


Fall

by DarkHououmon



Category: Code Lyoko
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-05
Updated: 2013-10-13
Packaged: 2017-12-25 17:24:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 42,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/955754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkHououmon/pseuds/DarkHououmon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Something has arrived on Lyoko. And it has its eyes set on Odd.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

_'How did this happen to me?'_

That was the thought on Odd's mind as he ran across the rocky surface that was the Mountain Sector. He was on all fours, pushing himself to go faster. He ignored the dizziness and tried to focus running in a straight line.

Behind him, something large and heavy was thundering after him. He knew it was still after him. He dared not look back to see how much distance this thing was closing in on him.

Despite being on Lyoko, he could feel his mind going numb and he felt a pain in his chest. He wanted to stop running. That was not an option. He had to go faster. He had to push himself harder. If he could just make it behind one of the boulders ahead, maybe he could counter attack. One hit on the XANA symbol would do it, right?

Behind the boulder he managed to go. His friends were nowhere in sight. Where could they be? He would have to deal with this menace himself. He pressed his back against the boulder, heavy pants coming out of his mouth. He dared to take a look over the boulder.

The monster was heading straight for him now. Odd steadied himself. "Laser Arrow!"

The arrow hit its mark. He smiled as a glowing flash stretched across the monster's head, and then suddenly it dissipated. Odd's eyes widened in shock. The monster was still coming for him.

"What? That should have worked!" He cried out.

He made a leap away just as the monster's claw struck down, barely missing him and scraping the boulder. He jumped on the monster's head and slid down its back. He jumped off and ran in a new direction, down a new path. Up ahead, he could see an unactivated tower. If he could make it there, he could use the tower as a shield. The monster wasn't that fast.

Purple electricity suddenly wracked his body. He screamed as he was thrown to the side. His body twitched painfully.

"Odd! You're down to forty life points!"

He groaned as if Jeremie's voice was hurting him. He struggled to his feet and brushed himself off. He tensed up when the monster lashed out again with its claws. It barely grazed him, causing him to lose one more life point.

"I could really use some backup here Jeremie!" Odd cried.

"Yumi's on her way!"

"Tell her to hurry!" Odd shouted. He readied his arm. He pointed it at the monster in front of him. "Okay, you want some of this? I will be happy to fulfill your order! Laser Arrow!"

It struck the monster in the shoulder. It seemed to stagger ever so slightly. But it was still moving forward, still coming directly at him. Purple electricity sparkled menacingly.

Normally, Odd would be able to run circles around this kind of monster. What it had in power, it little to show for in agility. But something was wrong and he knew it. His head, the chest pains, they were making it impossible for him to fight at his full power. He fired another arrow before making a run for it towards the tower.

He heard the clanging sound, the same sound he and his friends grew to hate, the clanging sound that meant the monster was going to unleash one of its more powerful attacks. Odd tried to ignore the pain and move faster.

It was not enough.

Odd screamed as the electricity danced and arched all over his body. He fell to the ground in a loud thud. He looked up and gasped in horror. The monster was upon him now. He scrambled to his feet and took a fighting stance. The monster stared at him before lunging its body at him.

He leaped to the side, feeling the monster's body rush past him. He wobbled, holding his head, and fell to his knees. 'Okay, maybe that wasn't the best idea.' He told himself.

Odd felt something snag his tail. He cried in surprise as he felt himself being dragged backwards. He looked behind him. The monster had him by his tail. It didn't take long for Odd to realize where it was dragging him to. They were going right over the edge. His eyes widened.

"Jeremie, help!"

"Odd!"

As the monster continued to pull Odd backwards, towards the Digital Sea, Odd began to think of the events that led him to his current predicament.


	2. Discovery

Earlier:

Odd fiddled with the pencil between his fingers. The eraser end kept tapping on the table. He fidgeted in his seat, either moving closer or further away. He stared at the piece of paper in front of him. He ran his fingers through his hair, his expression contorting.

He looked up at the clock. He winced. He looked back down at the paper. _'Come on..'_ He told himself. _'Write something!'_

He practically felt the loud bang of the second hand as it clicked slowly around the clock's surface. Odd could feel himself starting to sweat. The paper below him was still unwritten, unfinished. He looked around the room. The only other one present with him, sitting at the far end of the table, was Ulrich.

 _'Dang, that's not gonna work...'_ Odd mumbled to himself as he realized he wouldn't be able to check on Ulrich's work.

He gazed back at the paper. He wanted to punch himself for landing himself in hot water again. The tapping returned. He stopped when he heard an irritated growl from Jim, who was sitting at the librarian's desk.

Looking at the clock again, Odd knew he didn't have much time left. He pushed the pencil down on the paper. He tried to will it to move. _'Come on...come on...'_

"Time's up you two!" Jim's voice shouted.

"Aw man! Can't we have a little more time, Jim?" Odd asked. He held up his blank paper. "I didn't get to fill in a single answer!"

Jim folded his arms. "Now, Odd. You had a whole hour to get that done."

"Please, Jim! I really need this grade!" Odd pleaded. "Be a pal, would ya?"

The gym teacher shook his head. He turned his back to Odd. "If you hadn't been goofing off when you were supposed to be doing a test, this wouldn't be happening." He turned and glared down at the child. "I don't know why you found sneaking around the dorm floors more important than your test."

Odd opened his mouth, and quickly shut it. He couldn't tell Jim he was sneaking food up to his dog, Kiwi. He would get Kiwi kicked out for sure. Instead, he just let his shoulders drop down and said, "Oh, okay."

Ulrich handed his paper to Jim. He walked up to Odd. "You really screwed up this time."

"I know. This test was really important!" Odd said.

Ulrich shook his head. Part of him felt bad for Odd. The other just wanted to punch him. Jim was right. If Odd hadn't been trying to smuggle food into his room, he would have been able to take the test. How Odd even managed to do that without anyone noticing until it was too late, he didn't have a clue. Ulrich wished that Odd would take school a little more seriously.

Ulrich felt his phone vibrate. He opened it up and frowned at the message. He turned to Odd. "Come on, Odd. Jeremie wants us to come to the factory."

Odd smiled at this. Going to the factory could mean going to Lyoko. It was just the thing to cure his boredom. "Okay, let's go!"

**

Jeremie was typing away at the computer. In front of his eyes, many windows were open. Data flowing around the screen like a river. To most people, this was just garbled junk. But to someone of Jeremie's intellect, everything had a rhyme and reason to it. It all made sense. His eyes skimmed through the data, a small smile spreading on his face, getting wider with each line of code he read.

At his side, Aelita stood watching him. Her eyes were wide with awe at whatever Jeremie had found. Like Jeremie, she felt optimistic about this find. This could help them in their battle against XANA. She couldn't wait to tell the others. She wondered when they would arrive.

"Do you really think this could work, Jeremie?" She asked in a soft voice.

Jeremie stopped typing and turned the chair towards Aelita. "I don't see why not. Everything adds up. All we need to do is to go get it."

"I agree." Aelita said. "But still, you and I both know we cannot afford to get too...well, we must always be open to the chance of failure."

Jeremie frowned at this. She was right. This could all go wrong. They have had plenty of experiences with that. XANA had been one step ahead of them before. He could do it again.

Still, he did not want lose hope. He gently gripped Aelita's shoulders. He wanted to dispel any doubt she still had left. "Aelita, this will work. I promise." He gave her a reassurring smile.

She smiled back. "I know."

"Hey, Einstein!" A familiar voice called out.

Jeremie and Aelita turned and saw the door had opened up. Stepping in were their three best friends, Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi. Despite the long run to the factory, they didn't look very tired. This was to be expected after all the times they had to come here. They waved their hands in greeting and walked up to the pair.

"Hey, Jeremie." Yumi said, smiling.

"Sorry we couldn't get here faster." Ulrich said.

"Glad you could make it, guys!" Jeremie said. He didn't bother giving them time to ask why they came. He flipped his chair over and began to type at the keyboard. "I have something important to show you."

A few seconds of typing, and a window popped up, taking up most of the screen. On it, they could see the familiar green gridline landscape that was one of the sectors of Lyoko. Which one, they weren't sure of themselves since they didn't spend as much time staring at the screen as Jeremie did. A second later, after more typing, something flashed on the screen, concentrated in one spot, a little further away than expected.

"Aelita and I discovered this after our recent battle with XANA. It's an energy signature." Jeremie explained. He looked at his friends. "The reading is high and it's a match for XANA."

"What do you think XANA is doing?" Yumi asked.

"I don't think he's doing anything." Jeremie said.

"Come again?" Odd asked, folding his arms. "You just said the energy reading is a match for XANA."

"True, Odd." Jeremie pushed his glasses back. "But I didn't say XANA was creating anything with this energy."

"What Jeremie is trying to say," Aelita interjected, "Is that he thinks that this energy might be a vital part of XANA. If we destroy it, we could greatly weaken XANA."


	3. Light In The Water

Silence took a hold of the factory. Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd hadn't said a word for the past few minutes. They gawked at Jeremie, eyes widened. They looked at each other nervously. They wanted to be happy about this, but they just couldn't.

The smile that was on Jeremie's face had faded as he noticed his friends weren't nearly as excited as he was about this discovery. He looked over at Aelita. She seemed a little disheartened by their reaction. He looked back at them.

"Come on, guys." He said. "I thought you would have been happy about this!"

"We are, Jeremie. It's just that..." Yumi's voice trailed off. She looked over at Ulrich, hoping she could finish her sentence.

"How do you know that destroying this...energy, will weaken XANA to any great degree?" Ulrich asked.

"I'm with them on this." Now it was Odd's turn. "I know I'm not as smart as you, Jeremie, but my instincts tell me something is fishy with this whole thing. How do we know this isn't one of XANA's evil plans?"

Jeremie let out a sigh. He had to admit, the others made a good point. He looked back at the screen, frowning. Could he have been mistaken? Could this strange energy not give them as much of an edge as he had hoped? It wouldn't be the first time he made a miscalculation.

Even so, he was convinced that this energy was important. Even if it wouldn't help them weaken XANA, it might be able to still aid in some other way. He knew it was important to learn more about this mysterious energy and how it suddenly appeared on Lyoko. After all, knowledge is power, isn't it?

Jeremie turned his attention back to the screen. "Then we will need to investigate this energy close up. Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich, get to the scanners."

The trio looked at each other and headed to the scanner room. They positioned themselves inside each scanner. As the door shut, Jeremie typed away at the computer, entering the command needed to send his friends to Lyoko.

"Scanner: Odd. Scanner: Ulrich. Scanner: Yumi. Virtualization."

With a flash of bright light, the three appeared on Lyoko. As grid lines at first, but the data soon collected around them, allowing them to take on their Lyoko forms. They dropped down on the ground next to each other and looked around. They were located in the Ice Sector.

No surprise, there were no monsters around. XANA hadn't been attacking to day, so there was little need for him to summon monsters to the sector. They still had to be on their guard. XANA may decide to send monsters without warning. At least it was the Ice Sector they were in, which had the fewest places for monsters to hide and had the added benefit of water, which the monsters couldn't swim in.

"Okay, Jeremie, we're here!" Yumi said.

"Now what do we do?" Ulrich asked.

"Head north from where you are." Jeremie's voice came. "The energy should be located somewhere in a large body of water."

A bit of silence, then Odd decided to ask the question he was sure was on the others' minds. "So what you're saying is we have to swim to the bottom of a lake?"

Jeremie hesitated. "Yes, Odd. Now get going."

The three began to run across the Ice Sector. They wondered why Jeremie didn't send their vehicles. Maybe they would have brought too much attention to themselves. Or maybe it was because they may not work underwater. Whatever the reason, they would have to get to the location by foot.

Odd didn't mind it too much. He loved running on Lyoko. The extra speed and agility, it felt wonderful to him. It was hard to believe that, when he first joined the team, he hated his Lyoko form. Now it was like an extension of himself. It was a great way for him to vent the extra energy he stored up while at school.

He began to move out in front of his friends. Paws pounding the ground, tail flying back behind him, it was sometimes hard to tell that he was a human and not a cat. He enjoyed the cool serene of the Ice Sector. Without monsters, it was quite relaxing. If only there were a breeze. That would complete the scene. This wasn't the first time he ran in the Ice Sector, but it was one of the rare times he could run without worrying about being attacked, even if it were just briefly.

Odd made a wrong step and his foot caught on something. He got a painful reminder that the Ice Sector was slippery. He tripped head over heals, rolling across the ground until he came to a crashing end. He heard his two friends laughing as they ran over towards him. He sat up and rubbed his head, shaking it.

"Way to crash and burn, Odd." Ulrich was slightly amused. Odd's tail twitched.

Yumi, smiling, knelt down and pulled Odd up. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm okay, I..." He took a step back and almost fell off.

"Odd!" Yumi grabbed Odd again and pulled him back.

Odd turned around and saw that he was standing on an edge. It wasn't the end of the Ice Sector. Below him wasn't the Digital Sea. It was a body of water. It was huge, larger than most they had seen in the Ice Sector. The water swayed almost rhythmically.

He lowered himself on all fours and peered closely at the water. There seemed to be something off about it, something that made it different. Seeing his friends kneel down in the corner of his eyes, he knew he wasn't the only one who noticed it. There was definitely something different about this water. But he couldn't tell what it was. He peered closer.

Then he saw it. There was a faint discoloration. It was barely noticeable. The water itself was the usual dark color, but about twenty feet away, there was a faint lightish red color. Faint, almost completely invisible. But it was there. His eyes widened slightly. They had never seen anything like this before.

"Hey Jeremie...?" Ulrich looked up towards the sky. "I..I think we found that strange energy. It's in the water."

"Just as I thought." Jeremie adjusted the headset. "You will have to swim down to get it."

Aelita looked at him worriedly. "Is it safe to go down there?"

"It should be." Jeremie said, smiling. He looked away from her, the smile disappearing fast. _'At least, I hope it is safe...'_


	4. Aquatic Unknown

An advantage of being on Lyoko is that breathing was not necessary. Sure, they could still take breaths if they wanted to, and sometimes they still did out of instinct. But it was never fully needed to do so. They were in a virtual world. They could go on forever without taking a single breath.

This fact came in handy as Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi dove into the water. Unlike the Digital Sea, the water in the Ice Sector was harmless, at least to them. It was still lethal to anyone that couldn't swim, namely the monsters. Staying in the water too long was damaging, so they had to make the trip go as quickly as they could.

Down below, they could see the source of the light. There was a reddish glow centered on what appeared to be a large mound, perhaps a rock. The glow would get brighter, then softer, then brighter, then softer, and repeat in a perfect pattern.

As they drew closer, the glow was getting larger. Soon, what looked to be a glow the size of a basketball quickly grew to being larger than themselves. They thought about stopping, but kept pushing themselves. They knew that if they didn't go down now, they would never be able to determine exactly what this thing was.

Odd stared at the red glow. There was something almost hypnotic about it. Why couldn't he tear his eyes away? Suddenly, he felt something sharp in his head, a sensation he thought was impossible on Lyoko.

His eyes widened and he gripped his head tightly. He heard his friends call out his name, but he didn't answer. Instead, he let out a loud, startled cry. After a few seconds of holding his head, he started to swim back up to the surface, away from the red glow.

"Odd! Where are you going?" Ulrich reached his head up to where Odd had fled. The cat-boy ignored his words.

"What's wrong with him?" Yumi wondered.

"I don't know, but we have to go after him."

The two began to swim towards their friend. They tried to catch up. The boy was swimming too fast, as if he were desperate to get away from something.

They felt something. It was almost a rumble, shaking the water. They stopped and looked behind them. They didn't see anything at first, except for the red glow. They widened their eyes as they realized the red glow was moving. They tried to swim out of the way, but they were too late. Something large and bulky swam past them, knocking them away.

They looked up and gasped as they saw something large swimming straight towards their friend. They called out to Odd. But the rumbling sound muffled their calls. Yumi tossed a fan and while the glowing object hit whatever it was, it made no dent. Ulrich swam faster, hoping to catch up to the thing, whatever it was, before it reached Odd.

The pain in Odd's head was not going away. He had a hard time swimming without giving into the temptation of holding his head. He wondered why his head was hurting so badly. He thought that feeling pain was impossible on Lyoko, or at the very least was subdued. Then why was he experiencing this?

He felt a rumble below him. He took a chance and looked down. He froze at what he saw. He quickly sped up his swimming, nearly forgetting about the headache. Soon he was close to the surface. He jumped out as just something large jumped out behind him. He felt his tail narrowly missing being grabbed, then there was a heavy splash. Water drenched him.

His friends came out seconds later. They ran up to him and helped him to his feet.

"Odd? Odd, are you okay?" Ulrich asked, inspecting his friend. Asking if his friend was all right in Lyoko where he couldn't really get hurt seemed strange. But at that moment, to Ulrich, it felt natural, automatic.

Odd rubbed his head. "Y-Yeah..just a headache..." He looked back towards the body of water. "What was that?"

Yumi felt the ground starting to shake. She slowly turned around. She took a step back, readying her fans. "I don't know, but I don't think we should be standing here like sitting ducks!"

The water was starting to swell. It rose and fell chaotically. A few times, they could see sharp spikes sticking out of the water, but they would sink as quickly as they came. A wave of water splashed down at their feet. The water gurgled, muffling what sounded like a roar deep inside. Instinctively, the trio took a few steps back, taking a fighting stance to prepare for whatever came out.

"Hey, you guys, what is going on?" They could hear Jeremie's concerned voice overhead.

"Jeremie, a monster attacked Odd in the water!" Yumi shouted.

"In the water...?" Aelita asked, staring at the screen. "But none of XANA's monsters can swim."

"Unless he created a new one and this was a trap..." Jeremie growled. His voice turning urgent, he said, "I will have to bring you three in! We have no idea what this thing is and I am not taking the chance of you getting hurt!"

Odd scratched his head. "But if we leave now, how will we know what this creature looks like?"

"I will analyze the data after you get back."

Jeremie was sounding persistent. While he knew that his friends could fight well and take care of themselves on Lyoko, facing an unknown enemy honestly frightened him. He remembered how they first encountered the Scyphozoa, and how it almost stole Aelita's memories. What if this monster was similar? What if it, too, had a power that could cause permanent harm to his friends?

The high-level energy reading wasn't helping him feel better either. Not even the Scyphozoa had a reading quite like this. While he knew that there was a chance that the only thing that would happen is his friends being devirtualized, he didn't want to take the chance of something worse happening.

He typed furiously at the keyboard, preparing to bring his friends back to Earth. He saw the signature again, moving towards the trio. He pushed himself to type the commands faster. One by one, the three were divirtualized. First Yumi went. Then Ulrich.

The only one left was Odd. He had his back turned to the water. As he waited, behind him, the water started to rise again. He heard the sound of something clanging together, like glass balls bouncing off each other. He heard the spark of electricity.

As he looked behind him, a flash of purple electricity stuck him in the face just as he felt himself breaking apart as Jeremie successfully devirtualized him. Then, nothing but blackness.


	5. Passed Out

At first, Odd was in bliss. He couldn't sense anything. No sound, no smells, nothing. It was absolutely peaceful. He felt like he was floating in the air, surrounded by darkness, comforting blackness. He didn't remember how he got here. All he wanted to do was keep his eyes close and let sleep overtake him.

Off and on, he would hear voices. Faint, distant, he almost didn't hear them. They would only happen once every few minutes. The darkness seemed to continue getting darker, and as it did, the voices became fainter. Soon he couldn't hear them anymore. He thought it was good riddance. He just wanted to sleep.

Then he started to feel a sensation. It was annoying at first. He put his hands on his head in the black void. He rubbed his hands back and forth, hoping it would go away.

But it did not.

The sensation soon increased in intensity. He shut his eyes tightly. Now it was starting to hurt. A little at first, but soon it started to become more and more unbearable. He clenched his teeth, grinding them. He wanted to get away from the pain. He started squirming, shaking his head back and forth. He curled up in a ball in the void, a few tears starting to form in his eyes.

Soon, he started to let out a few whimpers. He tried to hold them back. He found it hard to do so. Another whimper came out. The whimpering intensified into moans. Before he could stop himself, he started screaming loudly. He shouted to the void to make the pain stop. The pain in his head just increased further. He felt himself digging his fingernails into his scalp.

He heard the voices again. This time, they were more distinct. He heard shouts of 'Wake up!' and 'Odd, open your eyes!' He didn't recognize the voices at first. A few seconds later, he realized it was his four friends, trying desperately to get him to wake up from his slumber.

Odd felt everything around him getting brighter. An intense white started to fill the void around him. The blackness faded fast. The white light engulfed him. He shielded his eyes, the brightness hurting him just as much as the headache did.

"Odd? Odd? Odd get up!"

The young boy groaned as his eyes fluttered open. The whiteness had faded fast, replaced with the normal level of shading and lighting. His vision was blurry at first. It corrected itself in seconds. He groaned, sat up, and looked around.

He was still in the factory. The sensation of something large and metal behind him told him that he was just outside of the scanner. He looked up at his friends. They looked worried and relieved. Ulrich knelt down and helped him to his feet.

"G-Guys?" Odd murmured. He rubbed his head. "What happened? I feel like I was hit with a truck..."

"You passed out during the scans." Jeremie said. "There was a large energy reading concentrated near you when you were devirtualized."

Odd thought about this. "I remember a little bit of what happened. The monster ambushed me, I think." He kept his hand on his face. "It hit me here, concentrated on my right eye...ow..." He gritted his teeth. As he said that, a sharp pain in his eye struck him.

"In your eye?" Yumi walked up to take a look. She tried to pry Odd's hand away, but he was persistent. Ulrich had to hold him still so she could look. After inspecting his right eye, she said, "Well I don't see anything wrong. No damage. How is your sight in that eye?"

Odd tested out the eye. He closed his right eye first to see the vision out his left. Then he switched them around, looking out his right eye. He did this a few times, comparing mentally of any differences he had. He finally shrugged. "No, I don't see any change."

"I don't know if it's possible to be hit in the eye with a jolt of electricity and not suffer any damage." Aelita said.

"She's right. There should have been some damage." Jeremie said, his voice having a grim tone to it. As much as he was happy there was no damage, he sensed something wasn't right. "That eye should be inspected."

"Oh come on Jeremie! I'm fine!" Odd could barely hide the pain he was in. But he was a spirited kid and bounced back easily. "I don't want to have to go Nurse Yolanda for a check up! She's just going to call me scrawny again!"

"What does eyesight have to do with how thin you are?" Ulrich folded his eyes, slightly amused.

"She'd find a way!" Odd cried. He looked at each of his friends. "Guys, can't we just say I got lucky this time? If there was any damage, it would be noticeable by now, wouldn't it?"

"Sorry, Odd, but I agree with Jeremie." Aelita walked up to the boy and put her hand on his shoulder. "And it doesn't have to be Nurse Yolanda who has to check out your eye. I'm sure Jeremie wouldn't mind inspecting it." She turned to the other blond. "Would you, Jeremie?"

"I..I can try." Jeremie said. Medical was not his comfort zone, but he supposed he could at least try something, for Odd's sake. "I can't promise anything, though. It would be better if Odd saw an eye specialist."

"Wouldn't that be risky? He was attacked by one of XANA's monsters." Yumi explained.

Jeremie narrowed his eyes. How did he forget that? "Good point. If they find anything...weird in there..I don't know." He shook his head. "I just don't know." The room fell silent. After a few minutes, Jeremie cleared his throat. "Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich. Could you three describe to me what this monster looked like?"

Ulrich and Yumi looked at each other. Turning back to Jeremie, Ulrich said, "It was..hard to tell. It moved so fast. I just remember seeing the color red, literally."

"It was large, I think about the size of a Tarantula, maybe slightly larger." Yumi explained. She added, "I do also remember the color red, mixed in with black."

"So the monster is about Tarantula sized and is red and black in color." Jeremie turned to Odd. "What do you remember?"

"It made a clanging sound before it attacked. It spewed me with purple electricity."

Purple electricity, the same stuff XANA attacks with on Earth. They each got a little too familiar with that form of attack. They still sometimes felt stings of pain just thinking about it.

Jeremie folded his arms. They had one heck of a problem on their hands.

"I remember something else too." Odd said. Jeremie looked at him expectantly. "I remember seeing golden eyes briefly before the electricity hit me in the face." Odd explained. "And they looked like they were filled with contempt..for me."

**

Odd laid on his bed, stomach up. Sitting on him was Kiwi. The little dog was excited to see him, as always. His little tail was wagging so hard Odd had to be careful not to get hit by it. Seeing Kiwi usually helped him feel better, but today it wasn't.

And Ulrich noticed this without having to ask him anything. Odd had been sulking since they got back. He hadn't said much. He would sometimes rub his head, but claimed the headaches were going away and that he just needed some rest. But Ulrich knew there was something more to it than that.

"I hope you aren't mad that you have to go the eye doctor."

Odd glared at him. Ulrich thought as much. "I can't believe that you all agreed on that. What if they find..."

"Odd, the chances of them finding anything strange enough that it would cause an investigation of our factory is...well I may not be good in math, but I know the chances are very slim at best." Ulrich said, trying to help Odd feel better. "Now why don't you just go to sleep now? You need some rest. Your appointment is tomorrow morning."

Odd grumbled at this. He didn't know how they managed to get him in so early. But he couldn't do anything about it. Maybe with a teacher, he could. But his friends knew him well and they would drag him there whether he wanted to or not.

Sighing, he put Kiwi on the ground. "Yeah sure, whatever." He laid down and pulled the covers over his head.

As he closed his eyes, he failed to notice a single spark of purple electricity emitting from his right eye, disappearing as the lid covered it up.


	6. Checkup

Odd held still as the doctor shined a light directly into his left eye.

"Okay, your left eye appears physically normal." The eye doctor said. "Now for the other."

The light shined in his right eye now. When it did, he felt a ting of pain. He kept himself as still as he could, though he could feel his fingers trembling at the painful sensation. After a few seconds, the doctor pulled away.

He frowned slightly. "Your right eye...I noticed a couple of things." He stared at Odd. "Did it hurt you when the light was in that eye? More than usual?" Odd gave a nod. The doctor said, "It could just be light sensitivity, but you should take pain medication just in case. Now as for the other thing I noticed..."

The doctor moved closer to Odd. He placed his hand on the boy's face. Using his fingers, he pried the right eye lids apart. He looked as closely as he could, becoming uncomfortably close for the young boy. He sighed and shook his head. He moved back away.

"I have to ask you, Odd." The eye doctor said. "What color eyes do you have?"

Odd spluttered, "Are you kidding? You can see for yourself!"

"What color eyes do you have?" The doctor repeated, his voice firm.

Odd wondered if this was some kind of joke. The man could see his eyes clearly, couldn't he? He didn't need him to tell him what eye color he has. He could just look for himself. He looked into the doctor's face, looking for any signs of him not being serious. The more he looked at him, the more he realized that the doctor wasn't joking.

Odd didn't feel concerned. He didn't know what eye color had to do with his eye pain. But if this man was persistent in knowing something as trivial as what color his irises were, well he might as well tell him.

"They're brown." Odd said, folding his arms back. "I inherited the color from my father. My mom has blue eyes."

"They've changed." The doctor said.

Odd blinked. "Come again?"

"Your right eye. It's not the same shade as your left eye." The doctor said. "Or is that how your eyes always were?"

Odd crossed his arms. "Is this some kind of joke? Because it's not working! Both my eyes are a dark brown!"

The doctor sighed. As if he knew the boy wouldn't be convinced otherwise, he gets up and grabs a small mirror from his desk. He hands it to Odd and gestures for him to look in the mirror. Odd did so. What he sees causes him to gasp.

He had been right. The eye doctor had been telling him the truth. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. His right eye was a shade of purple, the same shade as the electricity the monster used to attack him with. He continued to stare, wondering how this could have happened. His friends never pointed this out yesterday. His eye must have changed color overnight, but how?

He thought back to when he was struck with the electricity. He thought of how most of it had hit him in his right eye. None of it had gotten in his left. He didn't think it was possible, but he wondered if the strange monster had anything to do with this condition. Electricity wasn't capable of doing this, was it? Purple wasn't even a natural eye color.

What was going on?

**

On Lyoko, the Ice Sector was quiet as usual. No monsters were roaming about. Of course, not much happened on Lyoko, being a virtual world. No wind, no wildlife of its own, the land was just barren, unmoving, and quiet. Sometimes, programmed blizzards may start in the Ice Sector, but they were incredibly rare, and it was debated if they existed at all.

Then, in a far edge of the Ice Sector, something heavy was moving about the virtual snow. Heavy footsteps imprinted the ground, only for them to quickly disappear. The beast ran across the sector, heading towards a particular tower. It stopped just in front of it.

The beast was hard to see as it moved behind the tower, concealing most of its form. The only things that could be seen were claws and part of a tail. The creature touched the tower and let out a low growl. The tower shook slightly, purple electricity enveloping it.

Then, after a few seconds, the tower's glow started to change. It slowly shifted from neutral white to purple.

**

"With the results of these tests," The doctor said, sitting on a stool in front of Odd. "Your eye sight is normal. There are no significant differences between your right and left eye. I am concerned about the sudden eye color change. I don't know of anything to cause it to change to purple..." He closed his eyes and sighed. "But the important thing is that your eyesight isn't damaged, so what happened to your eye either isn't doing that much harm or we caught it early on."

Odd listened to this, rubbing his right eye. "There is a slight pain in my right eye."

The doctor nodded. "How bad is it?"

"It's just annoying." Odd was lying. It was getting worse, but he didn't want the doctor to know that. He just wanted to get out of here. "Am I ready to go?"

The eye doctor straightened himself up. "Almost. We need to set up another appointment for you."

Odd blinked. "Why? I thought..."

"I am still concerned about what caused your right eye to change to purple. That's not normal. We will need to examine the eye much more thoroughly." Odd groaned as the doctor said this. "Now, now. Don't complain. You will thank me when your right eye continues to work properly."

Odd sighed in defeat. The doctor was right. Something could go wrong if he didn't get this fixed as soon as possible. He started to climb out of his seat. "Okay, where do I set up the next appoint..."

Suddenly, he gave a brief sharp hiss, eyes shut tightly. Odd felt the inside of his head burning. He gripped his scalp so tightly he almost dug his fingers into the skin. He felt his world starting to spin. He tried to keep balance, but the pain and dizziness was overwhelming him. He could barely make out the doctor's alarmed face as he fell to the ground.

Odd was vaguely aware of the doctor shaking him, asking him if he was all right. The pain jabbed at his brain. It was like a jackhammer was placed there and was going at work, tearing his mind apart. He felt the room spinning faster and faster. It was like he was on the transporter to Sector 5. He felt his stomach churn. Before he knew it, he vomited on the floor.

**

Aelita and Jeremie were sitting in the waiting room. Ulrich and Yumi couldn't stay very long. They had left a few minutes ago. Jeremie had told them they would catch up as soon as Odd was done with his eye exam.

Both kids were relatively quiet. They would make some chatter, but were silent most of the time. They were hoping Odd was all right. They weren't sure if the monster did any damage to him. Normally, they wouldn't be that concerned because being hit in Lyoko just meant devirtualization. But Odd was hit during this process, and they were concerned that something carried over.

After waiting what seemed like an hour, Jeremie was starting to worry. Eye testing usually didn't take this long. Did they find anything strange? What if they found something unusual, wrong with his eye? Not knowing was eating away at him. He thought about asking the woman up front, but thought better of it.

Aelita broke the silence. "Do you think he is okay? He's been gone an awfully long time."

So she noticed as well. Jeremie replied, "I was thinking the same thing."

Before he could get another word out, he heard a door slam open down the hallway. This caused him and Aelita to stagger back, almost falling out of their chairs. Down the hall, they saw a doctor running up. He looked very worried and said something the woman. Now it was the woman's turn to look horrified as she grabbed the telephone.

Jeremie and Aelita ran up. They realized the eye doctor was the same one who was looking at their friend. They caught up to him before he could race back to the room.

"Excuse me sir?" Jeremie asked.

The doctor stopped and looked at them. "What is it?" He certainly sounded like he was in a hurry.

"How is Odd?" Aelita asked.

The doctor gave them a sympathetic look. "Ah you must be Della Robia's friends." They nodded in affirmation. What he said next froze the two children in place. "As for how your friend is...he's...not good. He just collapsed and isn't responding."


	7. Investigation

"Guys! Guys! Really I'm fine!"

Odd had been dismissed from the infirmary. The eye doctor explained the situation to Nurse Yolanda, since she had all of Odd's medical records. She examined Odd but couldn't find a definite cause of the sudden pain. She gave him some painkillers to take and told him if it got worse to come back and see her.

She was concerned about the eye color change. Like the eye doctor, she couldn't find anything physically wrong. She strongly encouraged Odd to get help if a new symptom would emerge.

Odd was being guided down the boys' hallway by Ulrich and Jeremie. They had flanked him ever since they returned to Kadic. Odd wanted to shove them away, but he didn't have the energy to do so. He understood that his friends were just worried about him. He did near pass out at the eye doctors. The pain he had felt then suddenly vanished. It could return, he knew.

But given his personality, Odd wasn't the type to admit something was wrong that easily. He liked being able to take care of himself. To have Ulrich and Jeremie help him to his room, to not leave his side, it made him feel weak. And he hated that feeling.

"No, you're not fine and you know it." Ulrich scolded. He gripped Odd's arm tightly, almost afraid he would fall over if he didn't. "Something happened to you back on Lyoko. You never had an attack like that before."

"How do you know it was because of Lyoko?" Odd spat. "Maybe it was just because I missed my meal! You guys didn't let me eat before we left yester..."

Ulrich growled, "That had nothing to do with it!"

"Now, settle down you two." Jeremie said. He had his hands raised up, motioning them down to signal for the two to calm down. Once they did, he said, "I have to agree with Odd on this."

"Why?" Ulrich asked. He growled as Odd made a grinning face.

"There was no activated tower. Aelita and I would have been alerted to it." Jeremie said. "No activated tower means no XANA. I have no idea why Odd had this sudden attack, but it couldn't be XANA-related."

"See? I told you it was nothing to worry about." Odd's smile broadened. "Now can you let go of my arm?"

Ulrich sighed. He released Odd. The boy waved goodbye and headed back to the dorm, which was several feet away. Ulrich watched him as he got into the room. He didn't bother going after him. It was his dorm too. He would talk with Odd later.

Jeremie took a few steps towards him. His face was solemn and contemplating. Ulrich didn't like the looks of it. And when he gave him that look, the look that said there was more, Ulrich knew something was wrong.

"What is it?"

"I wish Odd would have stayed. There was more I was going to say." Jeremie folded his arms. "Even if this isn't a XANA attack, he shouldn't take his health too lightly. That vertigo he experienced yesterday, it wasn't normal, not for him. He never had anything like that happen." He glanced at Ulrich. "Keep an eye on him, okay? I'm worried about him."

Ulrich nodded. "Will do."

Satisfied, Jeremie turned around. "One more thing. I will be running some tests on my computer to see if anything happened in Lyoko. Maybe you are right. It could be XANA..."

"He could have disabled the detection program." Ulrich realized.

Jeremie nodded. "I will look into it and I will tell you guys tomorrow. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

**

Getting to the factory at night was not an easy task. Jeremie usually wouldn't risk coming out at night unless it was an emergency. He considered this an emergency. He had to figure out if XANA had launched an attack yesterday. And the only way to be absolutely certain was to head to the factory. Sure his computer had the programs he could use, but if it was stealthed, only the supercomputer would pick up on it.

After successfully sneaking out, Jeremie made his way to the factory. He made it there faster than he had expected. He made his way down the elevator and into the main room containing the interface of the supercomputer. He walked up to the chair and sat down in it. He began shuffling through the programs.

At first, he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Everything seemed normal enough. No tower he found was activated. Half of him was relieved. The other half was tensed up. If XANA wasn't the one behind Odd's condition, then what could it be? The headaches and vertigo had him concerned enough. But what was with the purple eye?

When he had seen Odd again after the eye appointment was over, he was shocked to see that his right eye's iris had turned purple. He didn't notice that just an hour prior. Something caused it to shift quickly. And what was even more concerning was that it was the same eye the monster had hit. Could Ulrich have been right all along?

Something caught his eye. He shook his head to get out of his thoughts and paid attention to what was on the screen. There was some kind of reading, something new had arrived in the database. Jeremie immediately thought this was information on the new monster. Whenever XANA created a new monster, he gained access to its information. It usually took a few encounters to gather all the data, so he didn't expect to get too much information from this.

Sure enough, it was information on the monster. There was no form for it yet, at least not on the avatar. He wondered if that was because they did not get a clear view of the creature yet. Listed on the avatar were a few basic pieces of info, such as health and size.

But when he got to the attacks list, he froze. His eyes went wide and he pressed his back in the chair. He reached out for his cellphone. He fumbled with it a bit, but managed to call the first person he could think of: Aelita.

"Jeremie?" Aelita asked, sounding very groggy. "Do you know what time it is?"

"I know, but come to the factory! And bring everyone else with you! It's about Odd!"

A gasp. "Did you find something?"

Jeremie nodded grimly. "Yes. I will explain when everyone gets here. Hurry!"


	8. The Signature

It took about half an hour for everyone to arrive at the factory. Jeremie was getting a bit impatient. He didn't say anything since it was very late. They normally wouldn't come to the factory at this hour. He had thought about postponing giving the news. But he thought that would not be a good move. The information he found was crucial, and to delay it, his friends could be put in more danger.

He heard the elevator coming down. He got up out of his seat and walked over to greet them. He stood and waited. The doors opened up and his friends walked in, all looking very tired. Dark circles under their eyes, which were only partway open, gave this away.

"This better be good, Jer." Odd grumbled. "I have another test tomorrow."

Ulrich elbowed him. "It's next week, remember?"

"Oh yeah. I just want to pass this test." Odd said.

"Like you passed the other one?" Ulrich said with a small smirk.

Odd narrowed his eyes. "Don't remind me."

Jeremie said, "From what I discovered, failing your test is the last thing you want to worry about, Odd." This got his friends' attention. No longer did they look sleepy. They look intrigued, and a little worried. Jeremie walked back to his computer, hearing his friends follow close behind. "I just took a look at what the supercomputer picked up. And I was wrong." He turned his head, giving a serious side glance to his friends. "There was an activated tower yesterday."

A collection of gasps. A few nervous glances. A couple confused looks.

"But how is that even possible? Your laptop would have alerted us." Aelita pointed out.

"That was my thought, but here." Jeremie pulled up a window, showing a list of towers. A push of a button, he located the one that was activated yesterday. "This tower, located in the Ice Sector, was activated. It is giving off the same signature that any tower does when activated. But..." A couple of clicks, and another window popped up, showing the tower in more detail. "Take a look."

Aelita studied it. It was information on the energy signature that indicated the status of a tower and who switched it on. It took only a moment for her to realize where Jeremie was going with this. "The energy signature. It's not XANA. It's..."

"The signature matches what the monster you encountered the other day had." Jeremie finished, confirming her fears. "The supercomputer would pick up on this, but it is only programmed to inform me of towers XANA leads me to believe the tower was not activated by XANA." His eyes closed. "Instead, the data indicates it was activated by that monster."

"I knew it!" Ulrich exclaimed.

"You knew that monster that chased me turned a tower on?" Odd smiled. "Wow, you must be psychic!"

"Shut up, Odd! I meant that I knew an activated tower was the cause of your problems." Ulrich replied.

"But it doesn't make any sense." Yumi interjected before the two boys could continue their spat. "How could one of XANA's monsters activate a tower? They have never shown that ability before."

"That is correct." Jeremie interlocked his fingers nervously. "And that is what has me worried. To activate a tower for a specific reason, in this case, attack Odd directly, it would require a higher level of intelligence than most of XANA's monsters normally have."

"Meaning?" Odd inquired.

"It means we have a smart monster on our hands." Jeremie stared at his friends intently. "A very smart monster."

The room fell silent as Jeremie delivered this news. The group wondered if it was even possible for XANA to create a monster this intelligent. A polymorphic spectre was one thing. They were an extension of XANA himself. The monsters, though, were just mindless drones that just followed what XANA told them to do. Without XANA, the monsters had no direction and didn't do much of anything.

And he never gave any of his monsters the power to turn on a tower. If he had, they would have a lot more problems on their hands. If this new monster were controlled completely by XANA like the other monsters, when it activated the tower, XANA's signature would have been present. It was not. The monster activated the tower on its own accord.

What did this mean in future missions to Lyoko? Was Aelita going to be in trouble when she tried to deactivate a tower? Could the monster use its powers to kick her out? Would it formulate a plan and catch them all by surprise?

Jeremie looked at his friends sympathetically. He himself was still reeling from the discovery of tower activations as part of the monster's attacks. It was the only thing listed. He believed it could be a glitch, though. He hoped it was. The idea of a monster being able to activate a tower to directly attack anyone was frightening. He knew there had to be more attacks still, and finding the monster would reveal more data. But he was afraid of what he might find.

"What do we do?" Ulrich asked, breaking the quiet.

"We will have to go back to Lyoko and find the monster." Aelita said quietly. The others looked at her, including Jeremie. "We need to learn more about it. If we don't, then it will just keep attacking and we will never know."

"Aelita is right." Jeremie said. "Tomorrow, I will send you on a rendezvous through the Ice Sector to find the monster. We must gather more information on it."

The others nodded in agreement.

**

Odd tried his best to stay awake in class. Mrs. Herz was talking to the class, explaining the properties of some kind of gas. Odd found it hard to concentrate. This wasn't anything new, but now he was having an even harder time doing so. His eyes fluttered shut and he rested his head on the desk.

He felt Ulrich shake him awake. Odd shook his head and turned his head in Mrs. Hertz's direction. He still couldn't concentrate. What frightened him even more was that he had a hard time remembering what had happened. How did he get in this room? He didn't remember waking up. He didn't remember what he did yesterday. Something about going to the factory, perhaps?

He rubbed his head and let out a soft moan. The headache was returning. Not as bad as before, at least. He didn't pay too much attention. The fatigue that was overtaking him was numbing the pain. Maybe he should take a nap. Yes, a nap would make him feel better. Again his eyes closed.

Suddenly a book slammed on the desk in front of him. Odd let out a yelp and snapped awake. He looked up and saw the teacher's disapproving face. He gave a nervous smile.

"Pay attention, Odd!" Mrs. Hertz warned before walking away.

"She must be in a good mood." Ulrich whispered to Odd. "She didn't send you to the principal. That is the third time in this hour you almost fell asleep."

Groggy, Odd said in a slightly slurred voice. "Oh...yeah...?"

"Odd, did you get enough sleep last night?" Ulrich asked.

"Yeah...went to sleep at the same time you did. No playing games in the late hours. Just sleep." Odd said. His voice was slightly hard to understand and his eyes were having a hard time keeping open.

"I've never seen you this tired." Ulrich sounded concerned. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." Odd gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "I'll be fine."

Ulrich didn't look convinced. "Whatever you say, Odd." He decided it was best not to press the matter further, not while in class.

**

Odd managed to stay awake through the rest of the class. He walked down the hallway. Students walked every which way. He knew he had to get to his next class and fast. He didn't want to be late.

Everything was getting muddled in his mind. He found it hard to concentrate again. And now it was even worse. Random thoughts flooded his head, each of a different subject unrelated to one another. The swirling confusion in his head caused the pain to increase, his fatigue to worsen. He found himself on his knees in the hallway, barely aware of some kids asking him if he was all right.

A pain in his chest caused him to gasp, clutching it with his right hand. It was sudden, intense. He felt something sparkle in his eyes. He thought he saw a faint purple glow. The monster's purple electricity? How? He couldn't concentrate. He pressed his hands against the sides of his head, trying not to scream as the pain in his head and chest increased slowly, like cranking up the volume of an mp3 player.

Then the pain suddenly went away, just as soon as it happened. That brought little relief to Odd. Something had entered his mind just before the pain stopped. A single message swept through his brain, causing him to tense up.

_'You are mine.'_


	9. No Longer In Shadow

Soon, it was lunchtime. Odd was already heading there, his previous class now over. Eating might help him clear his mind on what happened. His friends were right. He certainly loved food and he rarely missed any meals unless he was sick.

When he made it to the cafeteria and got in line, he didn't feel his anxiety go away. He was a little shaken up from the voice he heard in his head. Had he really heard it? Or was it all in his head? He did have a tendency to daydream in school. There was a chance the voice was just another one of those, likely the result of encountering the new monster on Lyoko.

After getting his own plate of food, he walked over to the table where his friends sit at. Ulrich, Yumi, Jeremie, and Aelita were already there. As he got closer, some people stopped and stared at him. Nobody said a word, but he knew what was going through their heads. Word had gotten around about his mysterious eye color change. This was going to be all over the school newspaper, he was sure.

He wouldn't usually be bothered by this. Somehow, though, he felt different about this. He swore, when he had his last attack, that his now purple eye was sparkling with electricity. The eye might be linked to his attack before as well, at the eye doctor's.

He sat down next to Ulrich. The group was unusually quiet, no doubt concerned about the monster activating towers. No sign of an attack yet. They still had to be on their toes. Who knew when something strange would emerge that would require them to go to the factory?

Odd stared at his plate. He hadn't eaten much of the food. It wasn't that he wasn't hungry. He wanted to gobble down the food like he normally did. It's just that, with recent events, he was too preoccupied to really concentrate on food.

Ulrich was the first to take notice. "Hey, aren't you hungry?"

Odd played around with the mashed potatoes with his spoon. "Yeah, actually I am. Sorry, just thinking."

"This is new." Yumi mused. "You're hungry, but you don't feel like eating."

A glare from Odd. "You try getting shot in the eye with electricity and see how you feel later."

"Sorry."

"Hey Odd?" Jeremie asked. Odd looked at him. "I heard a few people mention in the hallway that you collapsed. Is this true?"

The others looked at Odd with concerned expressions. It was understandable. This would have been the second time he suffered a debilitating attack in such a short time frame. Still, Odd didn't want his friends to worry about him. The problem could be sorted out as soon as they went to Lyoko.

"I'm fine now. Isn't that what counts?" He managed a grin. "Everything will be all right once we find that monster."

Jeremie and Aelita looked at each other. The expressions they gave didn't relieve anyone's anxiety.

"Odd, this may not solve anything." Aelita said. "We still need to figure out how to destroy it. Before we can do that, we need to find it and analyze it. See what it is capable of."

"We just hit it in its XANA marking." Odd said.

"It may not be that simple, Odd." Jeremie stared at Odd with a stern expression. "XANA's monsters don't exactly lie down and let you hit their weak points."

"Yeah besides..." Yumi said. "...we don't even know its strategy yet. Before we take it down, we need to learn what it can do."

Ulrich nodded his head. He remembered when they first encountered the monsters on Lyoko. It didn't take them a single trip to Lyoko to figure out how to fight the things. Even now, sometimes it could be hard as the monsters are programmed with new strategies. "Just don't think we are going to defeat this new threat just by meeting it once."

Odd sighed. He wanted to tell a joke. He just didn't feel like it today. He was still feeling light headed. He then thought bout the voice in his head. "Earlier, in the hallway, something else happened." He glanced at his friends. He saw that he had their undivided attention. "It was weird, though. I don't know if it really happened. Maybe it did, but I just..."

"Spit it out." Ulrich narrowed his eyes slightly.

"I heard a voice in my head." Odd said.

The others were expecting Odd to smile, to crack a joke. He instead remained still, looking absolutely serious. The tone of his voice didn't sound like it was masking a humorous intent. Odd was not joking about this. He didn't need to state this for his friends to realize that.

"Just as the attack stopped, the voice said something in my head." Odd explained. "The voice told me that I was hers."

"You had a female voice talk to you?" Aelita asked.

"The voice sounded female. And she sounded like she meant what she said." He looked at Jeremie. "I think it was that monster we encountered."

Jeremie smirked despite his better judgment. He tried not to chuckle. "Odd, you know as well as everyone here that XANA's monsters have no gender. Even XANA is technically genderless. And for any of XANA's monsters to speak, it would require an even higher intelligence than I anticipated this new monster to have."

"You daydream a lot, Odd, so the voice you heard was just all in your mind." Ulrich said. He smiled briefly, but a frown soon replaced it. "But if what you're saying is true..." He stared over at Jeremie.

"It's not true." Jeremie affirmed.

"We can determine that when we go to Lyoko." Yumi said. "But I have to agree with Ulrich, Odd. You might have just been hearing things."

Odd narrowed his eyes. Of course they wouldn't believe him. They did make a good point. It was his thought earlier. He could have just been hearing things. He hoped this was the case. The idea of a talking monster caused him to feel uneasy.

"I hope you are all correct about this." Odd finally said before returning to his meal.

"Don't worry. We are." Ulrich said.

**

They were all back in the Ice Sector now. Jeremie transferred them there because that was the last place they had encountered the beast. The sector was barren like before. No other monsters around. Odd kind of hoped that would change. He wanted to have some fun while on Lyoko.

"I wonder where everything is." Yumi commented. "It's rare, and strange, to see any sector totally devoid of monsters."

"This one isn't empty." Jeremie said. He stared at the screen. There was a signal that something was approaching them. "The same monster is heading your way. Be prepared for a fight. The energy reading is strong."

The four friends took fighting stances, looking around for the creature. They felt something rumbling the ground. Something was approaching them. They looked over at a snowy hill behind them. They waited and watched. Soon they were about to meet the new monster face to face.

A shadow emerged, moving quickly across the land. They had a hard time seeing it. They ran over, trying to find it. The monster, still obscured, moved in a new direction, flanking them from behind. They jumped away in different directions, narrowly missing a massive crimson body slamming into them.

Then something leaped over head of them. A shadow casted down on them one by one as the monster sailed through the air in an impressive, almost unbelievable leap. It landed on the ground in front of them. It paused, as if pondering its next move, before turning around. No longer in shadow, the Lyoko Warriors got their first real look at the new monster.

The monster stood on four legs, looking like they were a little muscular despite being digital. It sported wicked looking claws, three on each foot. A massive sickle claw grew out of the tops of each foot. It had a long, slender head, the Eye Of XANA on its forehead. Its long neck had sharply pointed plates, extending down to where its tails began. Three long tails grew out from behind, each tipped with a purple ball.

Unlike XANA's other monsters, this one had teeth. The lips of the creature were curled up, giving a good view of its sharp teeth. Its nostrils, another feature not normally found, flared rapidly. A row of long sharp spikes grew out of its back, getting shorter the further back they went. Six spikes in total there were there. Each tail had four spikes sticking out the sides.

The body was red in color. Black colored its lower jaw, down its neck, and under the three tails. A couple small black stripes splashed on its shoulders and thighs. A long black stripe went down each of its sides, starting from its eyes all the way to the sides of the middle tail.

It stared at the Lyoko Warriors, golden eyes brimming with what looked like hatred. It raised its three tails, sparkling with purple electricity, and smashed them together. Odd immediately recognized that sound. It was the same sound he heard before he was attacked.

"It's going to attack! Dodge!" Odd screamed the warning just as a burst of electricity shot forth from the dragon-like monster.


	10. Battle On The Ice

Jeremie watched the battle unfold from his screen. He watched the signatures move about, ones that he knew were his friends, and he saw how they were trying to keep away from the stronger signature. He was a little grateful for this. He wasn't sure how he could handle watching the actual fight itself using a projector to show exactly what was happening, rather than just a grid with some dots on it.

So far, his friends were doing well to keep away from whatever this thing was. The monster didn't move quite as fast as they did. And if he were judging the screen right, it also had a hard time turning around quickly. That allowed two of his friends, Odd and Ulrich, to land a couple blows to the monster's body.

Jeremie waited for the computer to complete its scan of the monster. When it did, a card popped up. Unlike before, this time he could see the creature in its entirety. He gasped at the sight of it. Never before had he ever seen a XANA monster quite like this. He looked over its stats, complete and fully listed below the picture of the red dragon-like monster.

When he finished, his eyes went wide.

"How are we supposed to defeat this thing if we cannot hit its XANA mark?" Odd shouted as he dodged a swipe of the monster's paw. He took aim. "Laser Arrow!" The monster swayed its head and the arrow hit its neck instead.

"Keep trying!" Yumi tossed one of her fans over. The monster leaned its head back, watching the fan go up. When it came back down, the monster opened its mouth. Electricity shot out, originating from its slippery tongue, and destroyed the fan. "This isn't working!"

Aelita tossed another Energy Field at the monster. It hit the creature on its leg. It staggered a little, but soon resumed attacking the Lyoko Warriors. Aelita jumped out of the way as another electric shot flew past her.

"We need a plan!" Ulrich shouted. He dodged another attack from the monster. He didn't know how long he could keep this up. If only the monster were distracted. His eyes widened at this thought. "I think I know how to defeat this monster! Odd!"

"Yeah?"

"Come with me. You and I are going to keep the monster busy!" Ulrich shouted, readying his sword. Without looking back, he said, "And you girls, use your long range weapons when you get a clear shot!"

There wasn't much time to argue with Ulrich. He and Odd rushed towards the monster, prepared to keep its attention on them while the girls got into position. Ulrich thought about activating his Triplicate move. He decided against it because it might create too much confusion for Aelita and Yumi. Instead, he readied his sword and ran towards the monster head-on. Odd followed close behind, on all fours.

The two split off just before the monster could slam them with a heavy paw. Odd went to the right, and Ulrich to the left. A few Laser Arrows and a long slash of the sword caused the monster to stagger backwards, nearly toppling over. It swung its head from side to side, snapping its jaws at the two warriors. It barely missed. Odd jumped on the monster's neck and dug his claws deep into the body. Briefly, there was a pale yellow glow. It went away when the monster managed to knock the cat warrior off.

Odd barely had time to react when the monster tried to clamp its jaws shut on his body. He grabbed the top and lower jaw, pushing away as hard as he could as the monster tried to draw closer. He looked into its golden eyes. They were still filled for hate specifically for him. He never noticed it looking at any of the others this way. Why did it hate him so much?

"Guys!" He cried as he felt his grip slipping, the monster's hot breath against his body. "I need help!"

"Odd!" Ulrich rushed over. He leaped into the air and threw his sword. It hit the monster in the head. It released Odd. He helped the boy up. "Are you okay?"

Rubbing his head, Odd said, "Yeah, sure. Thanks."

Seeing an opening, Aelita and Yumi let loose their attacks. A pink energy shot and a glowing fan sailed through the air. The monster didn't notice them. It was busy making a mad dash towards Odd. The attacks hit it square on the head, concentrated on the side of its mouth. Glows emitted from the cracks. One more blow just might defeat the creature.

Just then, the monster stopped its advances. The glow vanished, the wound seemingly healed. It stared at the group long and hard. Nobody was making a move. Everything was silent, save for the heavy breathing coming from the combatants. The monster then turned around and ran off.

"Hey where is it going?" Aelita asked.

"She's just a coward!" Odd shouted, putting emphasis on coward.

"Jeremie, what's going on?" Ulrich asked, his head tilted slightly upwards.

After a few seconds, Jeremie said, "It looks like it's fleeing. It's heading straight towards the lake where it was first discovered. It might be regenerating its health."

Odd smirked. "I guess she just couldn't handle my charm!" A smack on the head and a small cry. "Ouch! What did you do that for, Ulrich?!"

"I didn't hit you that hard, you big baby." Ulrich said. "And you know none of XANA's monsters have genders."

Odd glared at him, rubbing the spot where Ulrich hit him. "Didn't hit me hard my..."

"Stop it!" Yumi said, putting her hands on her hips. "Seriously, you two can be such little kids."

"Yumi is right you know." Aelita didn't look pleased either. A disapproving look was on her face. "Now isn't the time to argue about this."

Odd and Ulrich looked at each other. They narrowed their eyes and turned away from each other, folding arms stubbornly against their chests.

"Yeah, whatever, but I'm right!" Odd muttered.

"Sure you are." Ulrich said almost sarcastically.

"What was that? You got something to say to me?" Odd said, turning his head to give Ulrich a sideways glance.

"Now that you mention it..."

Aelita and Yumi groaned and shook their heads in disgust. Sometimes, the two could be so childish. Luckily they didn't have to watch this unfold for long.

"I am bringing you guys back in." Came Jeremie's voice. "I got the monster's stats. It will be easier going over them with you guys back on Earth."

"Okay, Jeremie, we're ready." Aelita said.

"Please hurry." Yumi said. She looked over and saw Odd and Ulrich fuming at each other. "I don't know how long I can stand looking at this."

"Got it." With that, one by one, everyone was devirtualized.


	11. Some Answers Revealed

Jeremie relayed the information the best he could. The avatar was now showing most of the monster's information. There were bits of it that were encrypted. Jeremie, feeling concerned, had plans on deciphering the data as soon as he could, though it could take several weeks or months to get it done. He suspected that the encrypted data may hold important clues as to how to defeat the new monster.

The monster's life points were really high. More than the Tarantula's. 300 life points was what the creature had. It wasn't the highest level they've seen. The Scyphozoa likely had a lot more, if not infinite. It was still high enough to allow it to survive more attacks than what the warriors threw at it.

Not surprisingly, it could wield electricity. The data revealed that it could only use so much electricity at a time. It would take a while for it to recharge. During this time, it would resort to using its black sickle claws, which were powerful in of themselves. The claws might also be used for climbing up surfaces, which meant that this would be the first non-flying monster Odd couldn't simply climb away from.

None of this information he initially revealed was what worried him. There was something else about the data that had him concerned. He hoped it wasn't true. But it was. The data didn't lie. The data didn't lie. He had hoped it was a fluke somehow, but now it was fully confirmed.

The monster had the ability to activate towers.

It was this news that shocked the group the most. It was unheard of for any of XANA's monsters to activate a tower. They had hoped, secretly, it was just a fluke thing or a coincidence. The data showed otherwise. Detailed on its card, it clearly proved, clear as day, that the red dragon could turn on any tower it wanted to by using the electricity coursing through its body.

And what was even more unsettling is the fact that they wouldn't know when a tower would be activated. Jeremie said he could reprogram the super scan to pick up these new tower activations, but it would take a while. In the meantime, they would have to keep on their toes a little longer.

After Jeremie finished explaining about the monster, the room fell silent. This lasted for several minutes, everyone in deep thought.

"So Odd..." Ulrich said. He had enough of the awkward silence. "What are you going to name this monster?"

Odd scratched his head thoughtfully. "I hadn't really thought of it yet. Something...catchy..like..." He let his mind wander. He searched for a name to call the new creature. He always loved doing this. It came almost natural to him. He snapped his finger. "Oh, I know! Sikler!"

Ulrich raised an eyebrow. "Really? Sikler?"

"Sure! Why not?" Odd smirked. "It has sickle claws, so..."

"That's a dumb name." Ulrich said.

"I'd like to see you try better." Odd said with a grin on his face. "Even you have to agree I always come up with the best monster names. If it were up to you, all the monsters would have dull names like...Dragon, Pointy Stick..."

"No they would not." Ulrich mumbled. He would have tried to name a monster once, but a particular incident he'd rather not talk about made him realize that, when it comes to naming things, Odd was the guy to do it.

Aelita smiled at this. It was nice that some tension was being relieved. A little bit of humor would do them all good. It wouldn't last long, she knew. Still, some relaxing was in order. The monster would be taken care of later now that they knew what it was capable of.

Jeremie, on the other hand, couldn't smile. As much as he wanted to, how he would have loved be happy, he just couldn't. The new monster, the Sikler as Odd named it, was going to be a lot of trouble. The Scyphozoa was already a pain already. Now there was this? He dared not think about what would happen if both appeared in the same sector together. That was a very real possibility, and unless his friends could destroy the Sikler, then it could devirtualize them and deliver Aelita to the Scyphozoa.

But something he noticed on the screen in today's battle and what he noticed from what his friends told him the first time they encountered this new monster likely shattered that theory. His friends said the monster chased Odd, only Odd. It could have fired at the others, but it only fired at Odd. And in today's battle on Lyoko, from what he could tell, it was almost like the monster was trying to concentrate on Odd. It was hard to tell with all that was going on. But the screen he watched certainly showed a pattern leaning towards targeting Odd.

Jeremie wanted to say something. He looked at his friends, watching them chatter amongst themselves. He wanted to keep them safe. He wanted to warn Odd that the monster may have it in for him, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything. His friends were just getting into better moods. He didn't want to bring them down again. He concluded that he would talk to them about this after he gathered more information.

He had to find out why the monster was targeting Odd. He had to find out what the purple eye meant, why was it there. He had to figure out if the monster's activated towers were what had caused Odd's past couple attacks. There had to be a reason for all this. Odd was being signaled out, so it seemed. Once he figured out why, a course of action could be taken. In the meantime, he was worried that letting Odd back on Lyoko would make him a prime target. Maybe it was best for him to stay out of the virtual world for a while. Perhaps he would be safer.

Oh how wrong he would be.

**

Odd sat down on the bench with his friends. He wasn't too happy looking. His friends understood why. Jeremie wanted Odd to stay out of Lyoko for a bit while he figured out what was going on. It may not take a long time, but Odd hated being forbidden from going to Lyoko. He loved it there. It made him feel so free, allowed him to exert his energy. He understood why he couldn't go. It didn't make him feel much better.

"Cheer up Odd." Jeremie said. "If I work on it all night, I could find the solution to our problem."

"What about class?" Yumi asked.

Jeremie frowned at this. He had almost forgotten. There were important classes tomorrow. He thought for a moment. "I'll just have the supercomputer run some tests while I'm away then and I'll look at the results when I can. Not as fast, but it's better than nothing I suppose."

"Yeah well I hope it isn't long. I miss butting heads with my main monsters, the Bloks!" Odd said, leaning back in the bench and folding his arms over his head.

Yumi smiled. "Don't worry, Odd. You'll be back on Lyoko before you know it."

"I know that." Odd said, giving his trademark smile.

**

Back on Lyoko, in the Ice Sector, the monster, called the Sikler by Odd, moved about the snow again. It moved towards a tower, a different one this time. It looked up at it, inspecting it almost. A few sniffs with its nose, and it reared onto its hind legs. It gave the tower a sort of hug. Electricity shot through the tower, like it had before.

The monster watched, with gleaming yellow eyes, as the tower's glow changed to purple. Once the shift was complete, it let go of the tower. It stood in front of the tower and lowered its head. It put its head near the tower. The XANA symbol started to glow.

**

Odd was back in Mrs. Hertz's class. He wasn't feeling as tired as he did before. He didn't even feel like taking a nap like he normally would. He stared at the chalkboard. He couldn't really make out what was being said. His mind was wandering around. He was awake, but he wasn't really hearing anything. He was zoning out in his own little world.

His mind went to that monster, Sikler. He didn't know why it was targeting him. He believed Jeremie noticed this pattern. Why else would he not want him to go to Lyoko? The others must know as well. He never told them the way the monster never looked spiteful towards anyone...except him.

What was it about him that the monster hated so much? The Sikler was just newly created. It had not encountered him enough to decide to hate him. XANA must have programmed her to go after him, but why?

_'Do you really want to know why I hate you?'_

That voice. Odd recognized it from before. He looked around the room, trying to pinpoint where it came from.

_'Do not bother looking for me. I am not in the room. I am back in the Ice Sector.'_

_'You are that dragon monster.'_ Odd thought, hoping it would allow him to communicate with the monster. Maybe he could get some answers.

_'Affirmative.'_

_'Why are you targeting me?'_ Odd asked.

A hesitation. _'Do I need a reason?'_

 _'Well yeah you kind of do.'_ Odd did his best to keep his focus on the chalkboard. He didn't want Mrs. Hertz to think he was dozing off again.

_'I suppose you deserve to know...before I kill you.'_

Odd's eyes widened when the word kill was said.

 _'It is because you are a nuisance.'_ The monster said.

Odd frowned. _'Oh is that all? I thought I broke your favorite ice sculptor or something.'_

A bitter laugh sounded through his head. _'You are a riot. It is almost a shame I must put an end to it.'_

 _'I'd like to see you try, Sikler.'_ Odd gave a small smile of confidence.

_'My name is Therizino.'_


	12. Frozen

There was a long pause. Despite the fact that Mrs. Hertz was still talking, Odd couldn't hear her. His surroundings became mute. The voice in his head kept quiet. He thought it was over. But he didn't understand why he could not hear anything. He looked around the room. Some students were chatting amongst each other. Mrs. Hertz was clearly talking, flapping her gums about today's subject. Yet no sound came out.

Then everything started to slow down. Movements decreased little by little. It soon became very noticeable. Odd was watching the world go in slow motion all around him. It was like someone had pressed the paused button on his world and was going frame by frame.

This decrease in speed continued steadily. Soon everything stopped completely. Even the birds outside the window were paused in place. Odd looked around. He tried to find any sign of movement. There was none. He tried to nudge Ulrich. No go. He was rigid as a rock. He tried calling out his name. There was no response. Then he heard Therizino's cruel laughter in his head.

Feeling his heart start to race, Odd jumped out of his seat. He ran to each student, shaking them. Nobody would respond to him. He tried Mrs. Hertz and had no better luck. He went as far as slap a few students, hoping that would do something. It did not. Odd felt himself start to shake. What was going on here? Was this Therizino's doing?

He ran out of the room. He looked down the hallways and felt himself shudder as he saw that no one else was moving. A few items clearly dropped were floating in the air, never hitting the ground. Students were stuck in walking or running poses. One was up in the air, jumping over something that landed on the ground in front of them.

Odd didn't know what was going on. Time had stopped all around him. He was the only one who was still able to move. He called out different names, his friends', total strangers', whatever he could think of. He ran into different classrooms. He shouted as loud as he could. Someone must still be unfrozen, right? Someone must be able to answer.

And yet no answer would come.

His heart beating faster, Odd ran into the bathroom. He felt his stomach churn, the fear eating away inside of him. He held his head, clutching it tightly. He could hear more laughter from Therizino in his head, mocking him, his plight. Soon, he couldn't take it any longer and he vomited into the toilet.

He moved into a corner of the room and curled up. The anxiety inside of him was increasing beyond his control. He tried to calm himself down. Nothing was working. He felt himself begin to shudder uncontrollably. He hugged his legs to his chest. He wished this whole thing was just a nightmare. He wished he could wake up.

 _'Do you feel afraid now, child?'_ Therizino hissed into his head. _'Do you feel yourself trembling? How I love you in this state.'_

 _'L-Leave me alone!'_ Odd felt tears begin form in his eyes. He was shocked. Why was he crying?

 _'Oh no dear child. I have barely begun.'_ Another cruel chuckle and Odd shuddered at the sound of it.

Odd struggled to sit himself up. He looked around at the still paused world. _'Why are you doing this to me?'_

Therizino growled lowly. _'If you do not know the answer to that by now, Odd, then you truly do deserve this.'_

A wave of pain struck Odd suddenly. It spread from his forehead to the back of his head. His head felt like it was on fire. He let out cries of agony, frantically grabbing and rubbing his head, trying to make the pain go away. Therizino chuckled and the pain increased. Odd's world began to spin wildly out of control. His vision blurred, turning into nothing more than motion lines and blotches of color.

Then his chest started to hurt. He cringed inward. His chest felt like a knife was being stabbed into it and rotated. His body trembled from the pain. He felt helpless, laying on the ground as agony began to overtake him. He couldn't understand why the monster hated him so much. He knew that Therizino was hiding something, that there was more to her hatred of him than she let on.

Odd couldn't take it anymore. He climbed to his feet. Oh how it hurt to walk, but he had to get away. He ran down the hallway. The pain caused him to run into a few students' rigid bodies, knocking him back. That didn't stop him from getting up and running again. He had to get out of here. He had to get to the supercomputer. He didn't know how, but it must be the key to helping him. Maybe the monster had hacked it or something.

He didn't get too far. As he exited the school, shadows formed around him. Three in total, black shadowy shapes started swimming towards him. They rose up out of the ground, taking on a new form. No facial features, no eyes, just a XANA symbol on the head-like blotch. They had no legs; they just slithered along like giant slugs. They had unusually long arms, each tipped with three long fingers.

They surrounded Odd and began to close in on him. He desperately tried to find a weapon. A stick laid on the ground. He grabbed it and swung it at one of the blob monsters. It made a sickening splat, sending bits of black matter on the ground and the stick. It did little to stop its advance. Again and again, Odd struck, yet the XANA blobs wouldn't stop coming closer to him.

Odd threw the stick away. It wasn't doing him any good. He swung his foot at two of the blob monsters. He kicked again and again until he could squeeze between them. He began running into the woods, towards the secret entrance to the factory. The shadows stretched their heads and then collapsed into a puddle of black goo. They shot towards Odd.

Running through the woods with things frozen in the air wasn't easy. Odd barely dodged a few birds and bugs trapped in midair. A few times he tripped over a small animal, probably a squirrel. He didn't have time to look.

He could hear hissing behind him. It wasn't coming from Therizino. It was coming from the blobs chasing him. They were gaining on him, closing the distance. Odd pushed himself harder. His heart beating faster from the strain. His breath becoming more raspy, his throat drying up. He couldn't give up. Once he got to the entrance, he would be safe. He was sure of it.

He suddenly tripped on a tree root and fell on the ground. He hit his face hard against the dirt. He started to get up, but the black blobs surrounded him. They wrapped their disgusting arms around him and held him down. Odd let out a scream and called for help. The last thing he experienced was Therizino's laughter as the XANA symbols around him, glowing, drew closer, the monsters prepared to kill him.

**

"Odd! Wake up! Odd!"

Odd's eyes fluttered open when he heard that voice. The room was bright at first. He quickly adjusted. He let out a soft groan and looked around the room. He was in the infirmary. He looked at himself and saw he had a few bandages on him. He then saw that Ulrich was sitting next to him, looking very worried.

"Ulrich? But how did you..." Odd began to say.

"You will be okay, Odd. You just had a little episode." Ulrich said, giving a small smile.

"No..I mean..." Odd's memories fluttered back to him. The black shapes, the frozen world, he remembered it all. "How did you escape Therizino's clutches?"

Ulrich raised an eyebrow. "Therizino?"

Odd nodded. "That's what the Sikler calls herself. She did something...she froze the world and sent these goo monsters after me." Ulrich stared at him like he grew a second head. Odd's face went from relieved to confused. "You don't remember?"

Ulrich put his hand on Odd's shoulder. "Odd, the world was never frozen. It was not the world that was acting strangely. It was you."

Odd blinked and moved back. "W-What do you mean?"

"What I mean to say is," Ulrich said, sounding unsure of how to put this, "..is that you were..."

"Suffering a catatonic episode." Nurse Yolanda finished as she walked into the room.


	13. Catatonic

Odd rubbed his head, trying to let everything sink in.

"Cata-what?"

Yolanda stood next to him. "Catatonic. You collapsed in Mrs. Hertz's room during class. You wouldn't respond to any outside stimuli. Ulrich took you here. I tried all I could, but it took almost an hour to snap you out of it."

"An hour?" Odd groaned softly. "It didn't feel like an hour..."

"Is it possible for a catatonic person to experience a very vivid dream?" Ulrich asked Yolanda.

The nurse shrugged her shoulders. "I never heard of such a thing, but this might be a rare case." She turned to Odd. "You will need to rest for a while to regain your strength. Stay here. I will be back soon. Some water and a bit of food should help you recover faster."

When the nurse left, Ulrich looked down at Odd. He didn't like seeing the thinner boy like this. It frightened him when the episode occurred in the classroom. He remembered a few students screamed when Odd suddenly convulsed and collapsed.

At first, it didn't seem like anything was wrong with him other than he fell asleep and just fell down. Ulrich tried to wake him up. And when he didn't respond to anything, he knew something was wrong. He soon noticed Odd's eyes were open, but they were blank. Not lifeless, but staring into space. His pupils had gone wide and the eyes barely moved.

Despite his catatonic state, Odd had suddenly threw up. What scared Ulrich was that there was a little bit of blood mixed in. He had told Yolanda this, who was equally frightened. Yolanda didn't want to scare Odd, so she didn't bring it up. She told Ulrich that if it happened again to immediately take Odd to the hospital.

There was one thing Ulrich didn't tell Yolanda. And that was the screams he heard Odd emit. He couldn't tell if this was a true full on catatonic episode. It might have been something new, with some catatonia mixed in it.

As he had carried Odd over to the infirmary, Odd was screaming, as if something was going to attack him. He never moved a muscle in his arms or legs. His eyes had widened slightly. He would give a yell. But he would not struggle. Eventually he gave up all together and started to cry, like he had given up on everything.

He had never seen anyone experience this. None of his family members. None of his friends. It was a frightening new experience for him. Ulrich had not yet told his friends. He didn't need to. Except Yumi, they also witnessed the terrifying episode. They would be down soon to visit Odd.

"You were suffering a dream?" Ulrich finally asked, tired of the quiet between them.

Odd struggled to sit up. "Yeah..more like a nightmare. Black blobs were chasing me. They looked nothing like any XANA monsters I had seen. And Therizino..." He gritted his teeth, head on his forehead. "I don't know why she hates me so much."

Ulrich gave a knowing smile. "She is XANA's creation. Does she need a reason other than that?" He saw the worry in Odd's eyes and frowned. "Was she in your dream too?"

Odd nodded his head. "She was talking to me. She said how I deserved that to happen to me. She wants me dead, Ulrich." His voice was a soft whisper.

Ulrich couldn't find himself to believe everything Odd was telling him. He could believe XANA targeting one of them for a short time to achieve something. It sounded like something he would do. He had done it before with Yumi, trapping her in Lyoko for a time.

What he couldn't find himself believing was Therizino's ability to talk. None of the other monsters had this. Why start now? It would require programming a very high intellect, as Jeremie said. This wasn't something that XANA would do. Jeremie theorized that XANA preferred mindless drones to take his orders because if they got too smart, they could develop their own personalities and agendas and even turn on him. So creating something as smart as Odd hinted would go against XANA's nature.

Ulrich chalked it up to Odd simply hearing things. He hadn't been that well lately. His mind was playing tricks on him. He didn't say anything. He noticed Odd got a little more irritable easier than usual. He didn't want to upset him, especially after his attack.

"Well for now you must rest. You might have to miss a few Lyoko missions." Ulrich said.

Odd smiled almost bitterly. "I can't go to Lyoko yet anyway, remember? Jeremie believes it's too dangerous."

Ulrich nodded his head. How could he have forgotten that? "Don't be too upset with Jeremie. He just wants you to be safe."

"I'm not upset." It was hard for Odd to hide the tinge of anger in his voice. "I just don't think keeping me out of Lyoko is keeping me safe. Look what happened to day!" He locked eyes with Ulrich. "This episode, it was no accident. Therizino did this to me! She..."

Ulrich grabbed Odd's shoulders firmly. "Odd! Quit it! You need to calm down!"

Odd couldn't calm down. How could he? Therizino was out to get him. And it wasn't the same with Aelita. She had the Scyphozoa after her, but at least it could only attack on Lyoko. Therizino somehow could attack him directly on Earth without even exiting Lyoko. She wasn't going to stop until he was dead, he knew.

Odd shook free of Ulrich's grip. He looked at him and snarled, "How can you say that? Of course it's easy for you. You're not this thing's bullseye!"

"Odd I...what's wrong with your eye?"

"My eye?" Odd wanted to look in a mirror, but none was nearby. Ulrich grabbed a small mirror from a nearby desk and handed it to Odd. The young boy looked into it. He gasped. His right eye was giving a soft glow and a few cracks of purple electricity could be seen. "Ulrich..what's going on..?"

"I don't know...Odd!" Ulrich gave a cry.

The electricity was increasing, arching longer and longer. It was soon jetting out a foot in front of Odd's face. Ulrich had to keep out of the way or else he would be hit. Odd covered his right eye, crying in pain. It was cranking up the longer the electricity sparked in his eye.

Then just as soon as it started, it stopped, just like that. Odd's purple right eye stopped emitting a glow. Slowly, he removed his hands from his face. A few tears from the agony still streamed down his face. He looked up at Ulrich with an almost pleading look.

No words needed to be spoken. Ulrich knew what Odd wanted. And he wasn't going to let him down. "Don't worry, buddy. We will get to the bottom of this." He put his hand on Odd's shoulder and smiled at him. "I promise."

Odd gave a smile. Then he heard Therizino's laughter all around him.

_'We will see about that.'_

Odd gave a small shudder. What was going to happen to him?


	14. Anger Triggers The Spark

When Yolanda came back with something for him to eat and drink, Odd felt a little better. He didn't feel particularly hungry, but he still ate because he knew it would make the others happy. He had to eat slowly. The catatonic state had taken a lot out of him, somehow, and his stomach was still hurting him. Eating slowly worked and he managed to finish the small meal.

He waited for the others to arrive. He could use the visit. Ulrich told him they would be there soon. He was right. A couple minutes passed and Odd could hear footsteps outside the door. He heard soft murmurs and he recognized them as his friends' voices. They came in and joined Ulrich by Odd's side.

They all looked at him worriedly. More worried than they ever were about him before. At first, they were just quiet, staring at him. It started making Odd feel a little uncomfortable. He strained to find something to say. Nothing came to mind. The others noticed him being uncomfortable and decided to put an end to the silence.

"How are you feeling?" Aelita asked, putting a hand on Odd's. "You really scared us."

"Never better." There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "I just love being a drooling dummy! Maybe I won the record for first kid in this school to get like this."

Yumi gave a small smirk. "At least we know his brain isn't damaged enough to keep him from bragging." Odd glared at her. "Anyway, this is getting serious. You haven't been well ever since we first encountered the Sikler."

"Her name is Therizino." Odd muttered loudly enough for her to hear.

"And how do you know? Did she come up and tell you?" Yumi tried to hide her broadening smile.

"Yes she did." Odd said. "She spoke to me in my head. She told me what her name was."

His friends looked at each other, and back at him. He didn't need them to say anything to know that they didn't believe him. He groaned at this. What would it take for them to realize he was speaking the truth? Did he need to drag them to Lyoko and talk to Therizino directly?

Jeremie frowned at this. He could tell that Odd was very serious about this. He, however, still found it hard to believe. XANA would never create a monster this sentient. Would he even be capable of doing so? The polymorphic spectres say yes, but the monsters were a different story. The spectres, as he came to the conclusion earlier, were just extensions of XANA himself, not outright creations. And wouldn't sentient monsters be a problem for him? What if they revolted?

"You've gotta believe me!" Odd cried. "Therizino is out to get me!"

Out to get him? Jeremie raised an eyebrow. A monster having a personal vendetta? A heavy grudge? Those were traits that, again, would require a hire intellect than what XANA's monsters were capable of. This didn't add up. Odd must be mistaken. He may be exaggerating out of fear. He must have come to the conclusion he was the target simply because he was the first one the Sikler had attacked. He was just being paranoid.

"I'm sorry Odd, but that is impossible." Jeremie said. Adjusting his glasses, he went on explaining. "XANA would have a hard time controlling something that had a mind of its own. What benefit would he have with creating a monster that has it in for just one of us?"

"Why would he need a reason?" Odd asked, narrowing his eyes.

Jeremie did the same. "Exactly! Odd, I think you are becoming paranoid. The truth is, this monster is out to get all of us. It has no reason to pick on just one of us. You only think it is because it attacked you first, before everyone else."

"But..."

"No buts! You have to knock this off. Stop playing like you're the victim here. We all are." Jeremie felt like he was scolding a child. "You were just hearing things because of how paranoid you've become about the monster. I suggest you calm down before you cause more trouble."

Odd stared at Jeremie, his eyes widened slightly. He looked at the others. They didn't look like they were in disagreement with Jeremie. They looked at him sympathetically, a few of them nodding.

"He's right, Odd." Aelita said, squeezing his hand. "You're suffering and that is causing you to hallucinate. You need to get help."

"Don't worry, Odd. We'll figure something out." Yumi said in a calm voice.

Odd looked at each of his friends. His mind started to overload with all kinds of thoughts. He felt anger rising inside of him. They were calling him a liar. Okay so they didn't outright say it. But that was what they were implying. Well some help they turned out to be.

"You're...you're wrong..." Odd's voice was low, almost a whisper. There was the slightest touch of a growl mixed in it. His shoulders started to tremble. "I..I am telling you the truth...How dare you..how dare you say I'm lying!"

The boy jolted up in his bed. The tray on his lap spilled on the floor. The sound of glass breaking filled the room. The others jumped back in shock.

"Odd!" Ulrich shouted. He grabbed his friend by his shoulders and pushed him back into the bed. "Odd calm down! You'll..."

Odd pushed Ulrich away. This took everyone by surprise. The boy wasn't exactly muscular. How did he manage to push Ulrich away, who was the strongest physically among the group?

Odd attempted to get out of bed. Ulrich and Yumi rushed to his side. They pinned him down. The boy was struggling, letting out screams of frustration. As they held him down, they noticed his right eye glowing purple. Sparks of electricity shot out. Although startled, the pair continued to hold Odd down.

The purple electricity arched over all of them. It came close, but never touched any of them. Jeremie and Aelita ducked down as a thick bolt shot above their heads. The electricity wasn't doing any damage to the room. But it was causing great pain for Odd, who was now crying out, his head turning back and forth rapidly.

Then it stopped suddenly. Odd collapsed in the bed, panting heavily. The glow from his eye disappeared. His friends looked at each other, shocked by what they had witnessed.

"I can't believe it happened again." Ulrich muttered.

"What? This happened before?" Yumi asked, turning to the boy.

Ulrich gave a nod. "Before you guys came in. Odd got mad and then electricity came out of his eye."

Jeremie gave a thoughtful pose. "It may be possible that something in that attack from your first encounter with the beast is causing this. If the electricity is mainly caused by anger..." He looked down at Odd. "I'm going to have to take a look."

"A scan perhaps?" Aelita suggested. "We could have the supercomputer run a scan and we can find out if that monster really did do something more to Odd than just simply attack him."

Jeremie nodded. "I agree. Odd, after school, come down to the factory. We will get to the bottom of this."

Odd gave a nod, but said nothing. He calmed down as his heart beat began to return to normal. He was glad that Yolanda was in her room, unable to see this. He didn't want any needles jabbed into him. He looked up at the ceiling. He wasn't sure if his friends could find out what was wrong. A part of him believed they would, though. They would manage to learn more.

They would find a way to make him better.


	15. The Evil Eye

A few hours later, the Lyoko Warriors began their trek to the factory. It took some convincing to let Yolanda allow Odd to leave. She was in favor of making him stay until he got stronger. Jeremie convinced her to let him go, saying they would bring him back if he got worse.

The walk over was quiet. Nobody said anything. It was peaceful, a stark contrast to what had happened recently. Well it wasn't totally quiet. Some birds overhead, in the trees, were chirping and squawking at each other. It made the trip almost more bearable.

Thoughts and questions weighed heavily on everyone's mind. They wondered what was wrong with Odd. What did that monster do? Could it spread to them? Could it corrupt Odd in some way? Could it mind control him? Until the supercomputer ran a scan, they would never know.

Odd was happy that they were doing something to help him. They at least admitted something was wrong. He was still annoyed that they thought he was just hearing things. He knew what he heard and it was no hallucination. If they could go to Lyoko today, he would prove it to them all. He was not going to be called a liar and bow down. He would show them. He'd show them all.

_'They didn't believe you, did they?'_ Therizino's voice entered his mind.

Odd almost stopped in his tracks. _'It's you!'_

A dark chuckle made Odd shiver. _'Yep it's me. I can hear your every thought.'_ Odd's eyes widened. _'Did you think my telepathy worked one way? How did you think I could speak to you now? Stupid child.'_

Odd gritted his teeth. Yumi noticed this and touched his shoulder. He paid her no mind. _'I'm not stupid!'_

Therizino broke out into laughter. It was so loud that he felt himself covering his ears, even though that would do nothing for him. He didn't even notice the others gathering around him. _'Even if your friends find out the truth, they will not be able to save you!'_

_'You're wrong! Get out of my head!'_ Odd screamed in his mind.

_'We will meet again soon, my dear boy.'_ Therizino said.

Odd felt her presence leave him. He sighed in relief.

"Odd, what happened?" Yumi asked.

Realizing she was grabbing his arm, he said, "What? What did I do?"

"You almost collapsed!" Jeremie cried.

Soon, the boy was aware that Yumi and Ulrich were holding him up. He was slanted at an angle. If they weren't supporting him, he would have collapsed in the ground. He struggled to regain his posture. Yumi and Ulrich let go of him carefully once he was back on his feet. They stayed nearby in case he fell over again.

Odd rubbed his head. He hadn't noticed that he was losing his balance while talking to Therizino. Did she do something to him? Or was he so focused on talking to her that he wasn't paying attention to himself? Whatever the reason, he was glad that it was over, at least for now.

"This gives us more of a reason to use that scan." Jeremie said. "Let's keep going."

**

Odd entered the scanner. The doors shut on him, trapping him inside for the moment. The inside lit up like a light bulb. He could see the rings of light scanning him up and down. He almost could feel them. Something like wind pushed his hair back. He closed his eyes, allowing the scanner to do its work. Before he knew it, it was all over. The doors opened up and he stepped out. He walked over to join his friends, gathered around Jeremie, who sat at the control seat.

On the screen, multiple windows were open. The sound of the computer at work could be heard. Most of the stuff on the screen was jargon to everyone except Jeremie. The only window they could understand were the few that had a model of Odd on it. A bar was filling up as the computer was processing the scan. They waited, eager to see what the computer had to say.

Suddenly the computer gave an ominous beep. On the full body model of Odd, a large red exclamation point flashed prominently. The beeping continued, steadily increasing in volume. Jeremie's eyes widened and he quickly pressed more keys. Another window popped up. Another view of Odd, from the side view. A line passed rapidly through it, scanning for anything abnormal. The beep returned, sounding off twice.

The super computer zoomed in on the model's head. The head rotated until the right eye could be seen. A red exclamation point was plastered over the right eye. It multiplied until there were at least five, all flashing around the right eye. A window popped up, a square with a line pointing at the right eye. Words flashed right below it. It was:

_**Warning! Data compromised! Unknown data! Unknown data! Possible corruption! Warning!** _

Then the computer went totally silent. The windows disappeared, except for the one of the full model with the flashing red explanation point plastered over it.

The group become totally quiet. Eyes were widened. Mouths were opened or covered. A feeling of dread filled up each of them. Odd felt his hand start the tremble. This was worse than he thought it was. The computer, it...the information caused him to be speechless.

Aelita glanced at Odd worriedly. She looked at Jeremie. "Jeremie..what does this mean?"

Jeremie was frozen in his seat. His mind was reeling from what he had seen. He slowly turned his head. He looked at Odd, directly in his right eye. The purple iris, it had to have been caused by the monster. He was certain of it now, more than ever. Something was wrong with that eye.

Without saying a word, Jeremie typed more commands. The supercomputer obeyed immediately. It did a few more sweeps of the model's right eye. A few windows popped up, filled with data that the others would have a hard time reading. Jeremie's eyes darted back and forth as he read them. He snapped his head back and turned to Odd, his eyes widened more than he ever did before.

Odd's voice was small. "What..what did you find out?"

"The signature...according to the supercomputer, it perfectly matches the Sikler that attacked you." Jeremie said softly. "It...did something to you, Odd."

"That is obvious." Ulrich said. "What we want to do is what did it do to him?"

"That is what I'm trying to figure out." Jeremie turned his attention back to the computer. "This shouldn't take that long."

"You always say that, but then it takes a few hours." Ulrich said. He didn't mean to sound so impatient. He just wanted to know what was wrong with his friend.

"Calm down. Jeremie knows what he's doing." Yumi said, trying to calm him down.

**

Ulrich turned out to be right. It took about two hours for the computer to sweep through the data Jeremie wanted it to. He looked at every nook and cranny of the data. This process would have taken much longer if it were a full body sweep. Since it was just the eye he had to look at, it was easier trying to isolate the problem.

Jeremie's expression became more and more worried as he looked through all the data the computer was showing him. Once in a while, he would look over at Odd with a concerned expression. If the boy would ask him a question, he'd just turn away. He wanted to see if the computer made a mistake. He hoped it was wrong. But a part of him knew it wasn't. The supercomputer rarely made errors in its data testing and scanning.

Once the computer was finished, Jeremie knew it could be nothing else. He hung his head a little. He couldn't believe this had happened. He slowly turned his chair around to face the others. They deserved to know. The others waited for him to speak.

"The supercomputer has confirmed that the purple eye is the result of the Sikler's attack. After running several tests, I have determined that the Sikler does this so it can attack its victim on Earth without leaving Lyoko. It is a sort of..psychic connection. The unusual tower activations...I believe that is how the Sikler is able to carry these attacks out on Odd."

He paused, letting this sink in with the others.

"I cannot determine yet what exactly it put in his eye, but it has enabled it to attack him even when he's not on Lyoko. It turns out its mode of attack is electric pollution. An overload of electricity used in a strategic way. Rather than electrocute him, it causes a host of other symptoms. The headaches, the psychosis, the chest pains, the irritability, the fatigue, all of them are just examples of this type of pollution. If it gets worse, it can lead to a stroke."

A collection of gasps. Jeremie lowered his head for a moment. He looked at Odd straight in the eyes.

"The purple eye is the Sikler's way of marking its victims. It's a bullseye." Jeremie said softly. He put a hand on Odd's shoulder. "You were right about one thing, Odd. The monster is targeting you."

Odd could do nothing except stare, his eyes growing big.


	16. Encounter In The Forest

"What is the plan now?"

Ulrich had been pacing back and forth for the past twenty minutes. He was the most eager to start getting something done. He considered Odd a very close friend and it angered him to know that some creature was purposely targeting him, making him suffer like this. He looked over at Jeremie, waiting for him to answer.

Jeremie kept quiet. He looked back at Ulrich with a sympathetic expression and said nothing. Jeremie understood the need to take action, but at the moment, he wasn't sure yet what to do for Odd. The course of action would have to take his well being into consideration. He had doubts he could write a program to erase what the monster did to him. That would require extensive research and a perfectly precise targeting system to get rid of the foreign data.

While it was unlikely they would all agree on just what course of action to take, they all would agreed something had to be done. A voting might be necessary. Maybe split into groups as well would help. They just hoped they could figure out what to do and fast.

Ulrich narrowed his eyes when Jeremie still didn't answer. "Hey! Are you going to answer or what?"

"Ulrich, calm down." Yumi was a bit annoyed. "I'm sure Jeremie is coming up with a plan."

"Actually..I don't really know." Jeremie admitted, his head lowered. Yumi looked at him, surprised. "It's true. I don't know what we are going to do about this. It would take time to create something to cure Odd, and by then the monster may have already killed him..."

"There has to be something we can do!" Ulrich said with determination. "I know! Why don't we just go to Lyoko, find that monster, and..."

Jeremie shook his head. "I do not think that will work, Ulrich. The monster isn't as easily defeated as XANA's other monsters. It has more life points. If we go with that plan, a strategy will need to be developed beforehand. But even if you manage to defeat the Sikler, that doesn't guarantee that the compromised data will disappear from Odd's eye."

Odd was sitting on the ground. He had his arms around his knees, pulled to his chest. He rested his chin on his legs. He wasn't looking at anyone, just staring at the floor.

He couldn't believe this was happening to him. He knew that he was being targeted, but secretly, he wished it wasn't true. He had hoped that it was all in his head, despite his earlier frustrations with his friends. To have it officially confirmed by the supercomputer, he wasn't sure how to handle it.

Sure, other times, he would probably be boasting about this. He loved to brag about his accomplishments. If he was first in something, if he were fastest in something else, he'd let everyone know it. But this, this was different. This was his life on the line here. How could he be proud of this? How could he not feel terrified about being killed?

What he couldn't understand was why. Why was he the one being targeted? Why did the monster take an instant hatred of him? They never met before until their first encounter. The monster didn't seem to carry the same hatred towards the others. It was him and him alone the monster wanted to skin alive. Therizino wouldn't even give a reason for why she was doing this. If he could figure out the reason, that may help solve his dilemma.

He looked at the others. They had gone quiet again. Sometimes they'd stare at him, looking worried for him. He'd just look away. It hurt him to see them like this, just like he was certain they weren't happy with his dilemma. A course of action needed to be decided upon. But what would they do?

"Sector Five." Aelita said. Her voice was soft, but everyone could hear it. All eyes turned to her. "Sector Five would have answers."

Jeremie widened his eyes. "Of course! Why didn't I think of that before?" Jeremie looked at the others as they began walking back towards him. "Sector Five has information on everything about Lyoko! It would have the information we need to free Odd from the Sikler's grasp!"

"Well all right then." Ulrich said with a smirk. "So when are we going?"

Jeremie turned around and began typing at the computer. "Now."

Just then, the supercomputer gave a couple of quick beeps. The rows of towers appeared on the screen. One of them was highlighted and it zoomed in. Jeremie took a look at it. He turned to his friends.

"Sorry but we will have to do this later. There's an activated tower in the Forest Sector."

"Ugh...it's just like XANA to interrupt us on an important mission." Ulrich said.

Jeremie shook his head. "It's not XANA. This tower has the same signature as the monster. This tower was activated by the Sikler." He looked over at Odd with a cautious expression. "It may not be best to send Odd in after you."

"What? But I'll be fine!" Odd protested, standing up. "Come on, guys!"

"Jeremie is right, Odd. It's too dangerous." Yumi said.

"You could get hurt. Who knows what the monster will do to you. It could send you to the Digital Void." Aelita said with a tinge of fear in her voice.

Odd groaned. He sat back down and folded his arms. "Fine, just go."

"Come on, Odd..." Ulrich took a few steps towards his friend. "Don't be like that."

"Just go." Odd growled, glaring up at him.

Ulrich narrowed his eyes. "Be like that." He turned and walked away.

**

After arriving in the Forest Sector, the trio, consisting of Yumi, Ulrich, and Aelita, ran in the direction of the activated tower. They didn't need Jeremie to tell them where it was. It was in plain sight. It was easy to tell this was the tower. It was colored purple instead of red. This had to be the tower activated by the Sikler.

It looked like it was going to be an easy mission. There were no monsters in sight and the tower was just straight ahead of them. They just needed to run towards it. Even without their vehicles, this would only take a few minutes. They continued running, getting closer to the tower with each step. The sooner they would deactivate the tower, the sooner they could all go to Sector Five.

When they got halfway, something came into view. They stopped. Four Krabs marched out of nowhere and stood in front of the tower. In addition to that, there were three Tarantulas coming from another direction. The monsters surrounded the tower, blocking easy access. The trio stopped, glaring at the monsters with determination.

As if having these powerful monsters in the way wasn't bad enough, one more monster showed up. The Sikler came from around the back of the tower, a paw on the walls of the structure. It looked directly at the warriors. It narrowed its eyes and it looked as if it were smirking at them. It moved away from the tower and started walking slowly, deliberately, towards them.

Ulrich, Aelita, and Yumi prepared for a fight. The Sikler moved until it was roughly twenty feet away. It stopped and raised its head. It tilted its head from side to side. It looked like it was confused, like it was expecting a fourth member, Odd.

The Sikler opened its mouth. "Where is the cat boy?" It said verbally in a clearly feminine voice.

The fact the monster actually spoke took them all by surprise. The three warriors jumped back, staring at the monster like it were a sea of glowing pudding. Had they heard right? Did the monster actually speak to them? Had Odd been right this whole time? They didn't want to believe it. The level of intelligence required...No it was impossible. They must have been hearing things, that's it.

When they didn't answer, the Sikler narrowed its eyes. It stomped its foot in impatience. "Don't toy with me, humans. Answer my question. Where is the cat boy?"

No, they didn't mishear. The monster was talking to them. The voice was female-sounding, just like Odd said it was. They took a few steps back away from the monster, unsure of what their next course of action should be. They had never dealt with a monster like this.

"It...it speaks..." Ulrich whispered.

"But..in all my years trapped on Lyoko, XANA had never.." Aelita's voice trailed off.

"I told you!" They heard Odd's voice overhead.

The Sikler raised its, or rather, her, head up at the sound of Odd's voice. She grinned, showing off her sharp teeth. "Ah I see. The runt decided to stay on Earth. No matter." She lowered her head slowly, moving in an aggressive manner. "He cannot escape me there."

"Not if I can help it!" Ulrich ran towards the monster.

The Sikler laughed. "I wouldn't do that if I were you boy, for you see.." She raised her paw. Purple electricity sparkled through it. Her eyes glowed. As she rotated her paw slowly, a scream could be heard from the sky.

"Odd!" Jeremie's voice sounded out.

"No!" Ulrich came to a stop about ten feet from the monster. "What are you doing to him?!"

"As you see..." The Sikler said, licking her chops. "I have all the cards here." She made another gesture, prompting another scream from Odd. "It will be in your best interest not to defy me, or your friend there will suffer..a debilitating incident..."

The Lyoko Warriors stared at the monster, horrified.


	17. Rush

Ulrich gave the Sikler a death glare. He brandished his weapons and took a fighting stance. He dared not move. He wanted to drive the sword through the monster's skull. The only thing keeping him from doing that were Odd's screams of agony. He and the others could hear them clear as day. It sickened Ulrich to hear them and not being able to do anything to help his friend.

What sickened him more was the fact that the Sikler was enjoying his pain. Every time she motioned with her paw, every time it sparkled with electricity, Odd let out a cry. And each time he did, the grin on the monster's face broadened. It was delighting her and that was just sick. If only he could figure out a way to get close enough to attack her.

"Why are you doing this to him?" Ulrich managed to ask through gritted teeth.

The Sikler's eyes seemed to soften lightly. "It is not because I decided on his fate..." Her eyes narrowed into slits. "He decided it for himself..." She trailed off. She shook her head once. "Why am I telling you this? No matter, I could have fun with you." She gave a nod to the Krabs and Tarantulas beside her and they moved towards the three warriors.

"Wait! What did you mean by he decided this fate for himself?!" Yumi cried out.

Too late. The Sikler had already turned and was heading back towards the activated tower.

"Sikler! Stop!" Ulrich aimed his sword in her direction.

"I am Therizino." She replied as she disappeared behind the tower. "And I bid you good luck with my...little army here. Have fun!" Her voice was cheerful.

Ulrich glared in the direction Therizino went. He rushed forward to go after her. He had to take a step back as a Krab slammed its food inches away from him. A second Krab moved in behind him. The two began to charge him. Ulrich made a Super Sprint away, causing the two monsters to clash into each other.

Aelita jumped back as a Tarantula started shooting at her. It managed to hit her twice, causing her to fly back. Yumi jumped in front of her and tossed a fan at the Tarantula. It hit it square on the XANA mark, creating a long, thin slice. The Tarantula squealed as its body exploded.

"Thanks Yumi." Aelita said as the girl helped her up.

"Don't mention it, Aelita." Yumi smiled at her.

Aelita gave a smile back, but then her expression changed to concern. "Look out!"

Yumi looked around just in time to see another Tarantula barreling towards her. It was so close that she had no time to react as it struck its foot down. Aelita reacted fast. She charged an Energy Field and shot it at the creature. The pink sphere of energy hit the Tarantula, coating its body with the attack. It staggered back and exploded, just like the first one.

Yumi grinned at Aelita. "I guess you don't owe me anymore!"

Ulrich stared at the two Krabs running towards him. He held his blades up, eyes narrowed. "Triplicate."

Where there once stood one Ulrich, now there were three. The two clones stood on either side of the original, distance between them. The three Ulrichs rushed towards the the Krabs. A clone jumped on the back of one Krab and started to stab it. The Krab struggled to knock him away. A second Ulrich joined in and together, they destroyed the Krab.

The second Krab smashed the two clones before they could react, destroying them completely. It, joined in by the third Krab, they lunged towards Ulrich. He rolled out of the way. He rushed back, the Krab's back to him. He slide down and sliced his blade across the underneath of the monster. It exploded in front of his eyes. He was about to attack the third Krab when the final Tarantula used its arm guns to knock him back.

Ulrich wondered how many life points he had left. Yumi, he suspected still had them all. He expected Jeremie to tell them how many life points they have left, but he realized that he was likely trying to help Odd feel better. He readied his swords and looked back at the remaining three monsters. He took in a deep breath and ran towards the third Krab.

Yumi ran for the fourth Krab. She jumped in the air, avoiding its lasers. She jumped on its back and tossed a fan into the Eye Of XANA. She jumped off as the Krab began to lose its footing. It exploded into bits. She smiled at her victory, only to be struck hard by a blast from the last Tarantula. It fired its weapon multiple times into her back before she had time to turn around.

She tossed her fan at it. It made impact with the front of its head, where the tiny red eyes were. It didn't kill the monster like she hoped. But it did by her time to get out of the way. She cursed silently to herself. She probably didn't have that many life points left. She guessed she had one or two shots left at most.

Ulrich screamed as the fourth Krab shot him in the chest. He struggled to get back on his feet. The Krab almost stomped on him. Aelita saw this and shot an Energy Field at the Krab, deleting it before it could attack.

Now there was just one monster left. The Tarantula got into position and began to fire at them. The three warriors dodged the attacks, though barely. Yumi took careful aim. A fan was tossed. It sailed through the air. It went passed the Tarantula, then arched back. A deep cut formed on its head. The Tarantula reared its head back like it wanted to see what had hit it. It, like the other monsters, exploded into data.

They didn't have time to celebrate. They had to get going.

"We need to get to the tower!" Ulrich shouted. He pointed his blade at the purple glowing cylinder. "Let's go!"

"I hope we're not too late!" Aelita said as she ran behind Ulrich.

"Are...are you guys at the tower yet?" They heard Jeremie's soft voice overhead. His voice was filled with worry.

"Almost!" Yumi replied. "How's Odd?"

Jeremie didn't answer.

"Jeremie! Can you please answer?" Yumi shouted.

Again no answer. They knew Jeremie was still there by the sound of his breathing.

Ulrich gave a worried shout, "Jeremie!"

Another hesitation, but this time Jeremie answered them. "Just..please..hurry..." He trailed off. It almost sounded like he was going to cry.

This caused their hearts to fill with dread. Something terrible happened to Odd. They knew it deep down. Therizino did something horrible to him. She would pay for that. First, they had to deactivate the tower.

When they got close enough, they stopped. They looked cautiously around, looking for any signs of the red monster. When they saw none, Aelita began to approach the tower.

Suddenly, Therizino whipped around the back of the tower. Her eyes glowing with anger, she charged towards the three warriors. She snapped her jaws at them. They managed to dodge. Ulrich sank his sword into her flank. She reared onto her hind legs and whipped her head towards him, knocking him back. She ripped out his sword and tossed it away.

Yumi ran into a strategic spot and her glowing fans shot from her gripping hands. Therizino looked up at them and moved her head out of the way, letting them sail by her. When they turned around to go after her again, she merely ducked. She opened her mouth and shot a spark of electricity from her tongue and it destroyed the fan instantly.

Aelita tried to enter the tower. Therizino got in her way. The girl staggered back as Therizino slowly advanced on her, mouth open with electricity sparking viciously out of it.

"I'm sorry." Therizino hissed. "I cannot allow you to enter that tower."

Yumi and Ulrich jumped on Therizino's neck. She howled in surprise and struggled to get them off. She reared on her hind legs once more and threw herself onto her back. The spikes on growing out of her sliced deep into the pair. It caused them to devirtualize on impact. She smirked and turned her attention to Aelita.

Only to realize she wasn't there. Therizino's eyes widened in shock as Aelita entered the tower. Therizino ran towards her. "No!" She tried to grab the girl, but she was too late. She smashed into the tower as Aelita completely entered it.

Therizino hissed as she watched the tower change from purple to white. Knowing they defeated her this time, she turned and ran off. She gave an ominous warning as she disappeared. "Don't take this victory to heart, humans! Next time, I will have my way! Your cat friend will be mine!"

Aelita closed her eyes as Jeremie devirtualized her.


	18. Barely Survived

As soon as she exited out of the scanner, Aelita rushed into the computer room where the others were. The doors opened up, allowing her access in side. When she saw the grisly sight before her, she stopped for a moment to gasp in horror, covering her mouth. She ran closer.

Ulrich, Yumi, and Jeremie stood in a semicircle around Odd. Jeremie was the closest. He had Odd's hand in his, feeling the wrist to see if there was still a pulse. He nodded his head, but his expression remained grim.

Aelita got close enough to get a better look. She stared wide eyed at Odd. The boy was laying against the wall. He was very pale and sickly looking. His hand was still clutching his chest, though the grip looked very loose, like his hand could fall down any second. His other hand was laying limply at his side. He had a weak, pained expression and his eyes were glazed over.

He was panting really heavily. It was like he ran a marathon two times in a row. Jeremie had gotten him some water and gave it to him. Odd's face was wet from when he drank it. Despite that, he was still panting, clinging to his chest like it was about to explode.

"What...what did the Sikler..I mean, Therizino, do?" Aelita asked, her voice low.

Jeremie looked up at her. His eyes were furrowed with worry. "She made his heart beat really fast, beyond what a normal heart should. It kept going faster and faster. It...it almost burst open." Jeremie looked at Odd and gave a soft sigh. "You deactivated the tower just in time. If this had gone in just a few seconds more..."

Yumi shook her head in denial. Were they really that close to losing Odd? What if Therizino succeeded next time? "Odd..."

Ulrich squeezed his eyes shut and punched the wall next to him. He didn't care if it hurt or not. He was too made to worry about that. "Next time I see her, I will..."

Jeremie stood up. "I know how you feel, Ulrich. But we can't rush into this. We need to figure out a plan."

"Plan?!" Ulrich snapped at him. "By the time you come up with this plan, Odd might be dead already!"

Jeremie backed away from the angry boy. He held up his hands to try to calm him down. "I know there's a sense of urgency here, Ulrich. But if we to Lyoko without a plan, Therizino might kill Odd before we have a chance to stop her. We need to think things through!"

"We don't have time for that!" Ulrich cried. He was almost tempted to punch Jeremie, but managed to control himself enough. He felt a hand on his shoulder. He whipped around, expecting to see Yumi. He was surprised when he saw Odd standing there instead. "Odd?"

Despite his condition, Odd managed to stand and had walked up to Ulrich. He was using him as support, his hand gripping him so he wouldn't fall over. "J-Jeremie is right..." He was able to say weakly. "We need a plan. And d-don't worry.." He did his best to smile. "Th-Therizino will have to do more than that to get r-rid of me." He did a thumbs up.

"Odd..." Ulrich whispered. Suddenly Odd collapsed in his arms. He grabbed onto him, holding him up. "Odd? Wake up!" He gently laid the boy on the ground. The others drew in closer as he tried to shake him awake. "Odd! Odd!"

"I'm tired, Ulrich...so very tired.." Odd's voice managed to say. "Can we...go home?"

Relief swept through the group. Ulrich smiled, trying to hold back a tear. "Sure, buddy. Sure."

**

Odd was never happier being back in school. It was completely dark now. He hadn't had dinner yet, but he didn't care, not this time. Ulrich helped him up into the room. He wanted to protest. He felt too weak to do so. Ulrich supported him by slinging an arm over his shoulder and holding tightly. The progress was slow, but soon, they were back in his room.

Ulrich helped Odd to his bed and set him down. Odd sat up for a few seconds. Kiwi looked up at his owner, wagging his tail and barking happily. Odd rubbed his head a few times, smiling. Then he fell back, feeling heavy as a rock. Kiwi had to move fast to avoid being landed on. Odd spread out his arms and started panting heavily. Kiwi crawled onto him, only to be pushed back.

"Not now, Kiwi..not feeling good." Odd muttered. He didn't bother trying to cover himself up with the blankets. He felt too heavy and too weak to move.

Ulrich sat down on his bed and looked over at his friend. He felt hurt by the way Odd was looking. Some of his color came back, but he still looked very sickly. He was very worried about him. Therizino could activate another tower and finish the job. Odd wouldn't be able to handle another attack like that.

The thought of the monster trying to kill his best friend for no reason angered him. It angered him more than XANA ever did. He felt his fists clenching, digging his fingernails into the palms of his hands. He didn't care when it broke skin and tiny specks of blood formed. He wanted to make the monster pay for what she did. He would see to that.

He watched as his friend drifted off to sleep. A few minutes later, Ulrich laid down on his bed. He closed his eyes to sleep. It wouldn't come. He kept his eyes closed for several minutes. He just didn't feel tired enough. He sat back up in his bed.

He kept his gaze down, looking at his crossed legs and hands clamped together. Today was a tough day, but not because of the battle they had endured, but because of what had been happening to Odd lately. He knew that Jeremie would find a solution. But he couldn't help but feel very worried for him. He couldn't get Odd's condition out of his mind. He would not be able to get these images out of his head. He believed the same was true for Jeremie, Aelita, and Yumi.

His thoughts soon traveled to the hated Therizino. Where was she getting all this power? How was it she could withstand getting hit in the head so many times? Directly on the XANA symbol? He recalled how Yumi had hit her in their first battle, right on that weak point. Therizino still stood. She had shrugged it off as if nothing happened.

His eyes widened slightly as he remembered something. His memory might be failing him, but he remembered the purple electric balls glowing slightly as the fan hit her symbol. He had to wonder. Could that be how she survives? Could the electric balls be projecting energy into her, allowing the symbol to regenerate?

If that was the case, all they would have to do is cut off her tails. They could weaken her and destroy her before she did any more harm. He narrowed his eyes. What if he was wrong? What would happen if they got rid of her tails and she was still standing? With Odd's condition, they couldn't afford a mistake.

Finally feeling tired enough, Ulrich laid down in his bed. As he closed his eyes, he made a silent promise to himself. He would speak to Jeremie first thing tomorrow.


	19. Therizino's Secret

Jeremie didn't fall asleep. It was late at night, but he couldn't sleep, not yet. He was sitting at his computer. The monitor was the only source of light in the room. His eyes were glued to the screen as he type frantically on the keyboard. He had to figure out more about Therizino, what more she was capable of doing.

He wanted to know exactly what her plans were for Odd and why she hated him. He also wanted to know just how XANA managed to create her and why he would create her to start with. It didn't seem like him. Then again, the evil AI was always coming up with new ways to off him and his friends. This could be just his latest scheme.

But then, why target Odd? Sure, Therizino fought against the others. But she seems so focused on Odd. That was unusual for XANA. Focusing on just one target doesn't seem very efficient. XANA would have wanted Therizino to be adaptable, an opportunist, to take whatever warrior she could. Concentrating her firepower on just one person...

Jeremie looked at his screen. A few programs were open, running scans. He was looking at the information he copied from Odd's eye. It was the only data he remembered to take with him from the supercomputer. He hoped the data would contain some important clues to the new monster. Sadly, the programs weren't showing anything that could help him.

He thought back to the intelligence Therizino seemed to possess. She was able to talk, to converse with the others. It was not faked. He knew XANA had enough understanding to know how to have a conversation with people. Therizino's seemed the most convincing, somehow. It was the tone of her voice. It sounded too...realistic, her emotions too real, for a XANA monster. He thought about this long and hard. How could XANA pull this off?

Unless...unless he... Jeremie's eyes widened in realization. He looked at the data again. He looked through the strands closely, analyzing them one by one. XANA wouldn't do such a thing...would he? Could the AI be capable of pulling this off? In Jeremie's mind, he hoped he was wrong. He scanned the data, at first feeling relief when nothing he was looking for showed up.

Then he stopped. He stared at a particular strand of data. It looked very familiar. He had seen this before. His hands started shaking. His eyes grew big. XANA had done it. He couldn't believe it, but he did.

He had to tell the others and fast.

**

The doors to the randomly generated Sector Five opened up. Stepping into it wasn't the Lyoko Warriors. Instead, it was the red dragon-like monster, Therizino. Her tail spheres sparked with electricity as she exited the door and walked down the hallway.

The timer was activated. It always was when anyone first entered here. She knew where it was. XANA always relayed the information to the monsters he sends here. She didn't give so much a sideways glance as she shot a small ball of purple energy in one direction. It hit the key, located several platforms high away from her.

With the key deactivated, she continued walking forth. The place was like a maze, but she knew her way around instinctively. Again this was because XANA made sure his monsters never got lost. It would do him no good if they kept getting stuck somewhere when trying to fight the Lyoko Warriors.

Therizino found what she was looking for. The twisting elevator that swung around the sphere. She got on it. She barely fit. She waited as it swung her around and went high up. She got off and walked forward. Before she knew it, she was at a control panel. A window hovered above the ground, looking almost transparent.

It was not the same console Aelita used. This one was made especially for her, Therizino. It was too high for Aelita and the other kids to use. She approached it and stopped with her face a foot away from the screen. She pressed her paw on the panel and it lit up.

In seconds, it flashed her name and then asked for a code. Using her right sickle claw, she crunched in a code. After she was finished, the panel said that the connection was established. She took a step back as the screen glowed brighter and information started flinging along it like it was drowning in a river of data.

She pressed more buttons, looking at the information as it came down. After a few minutes, something glowed brightly next to her. She turned her head. Something small rose out of it. She reached over and grabbed it carefully between her sharp claws.

The object looked almost like a jar, except the lid was part of it and couldn't be removed. There was a substance inside of it. It was luminescent and it floated about in the jar like it was a lava lamp. Therizino grinned and clamped it tightly in her paws. She gave a dark chuckle.

"Soon...oh so very soon..." She said softly to herself. She tore the bottle-like thing open and let the substance sink down her throat. She licked her lips in a satisfactory manner and walked away. "Oh if only he knew what I have in store for him...Everything is going according to plan."

**

"Therizino's a what?"

That was the cry Jeremie's friends gave when he relayed them the news. He rubbed his head. They didn't fully understand what he told them. It was his fault, he admitted. He was not clear enough. He cleared his throat and tried again.

"I'm not saying she is. But part of her is, her mind." Jeremie said. "I ran tests on my computer last night, testing the data that was in Odd's eye. I found something that could not be mistaken for anything else." He paused, looking down at the ground before returning his gaze to his friends. "That is how she is so intelligent despite being one of XANA's monsters."

There was an uneasy silence in the room. The group looked at each other. They weren't sure how to digest this news. They didn't know if they could accept it. How could they? This was big, something totally unexpected. How could XANA do something like this? This was...shocking to say the least.

"Are you sure, Jeremie?" Yumi asked slowly. "Maybe the computer got it wrong?"

Jeremie shook his head. "No, Yumi. It is true, all of it."

"But that's impossible!" Odd cried. He was feeling better from yesterday, but this news shocked him so much he started feeling a little weak again. "I mean XANA has pulled a lot of stunts before, but this takes the cake!"

"I have to agree with Odd. This is a bit of a doozy don't you think? Are you sure you analyzed that data right, Jeremie?" Ulrich asked.

"I told you the computer doesn't lie!" Jeremie slammed his fist into his open palm, catching his friends by surprise. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing else it could be. As much as we don't want to believe it..."

Aelita frowned softly. "So Therizino..."

"She is a monster, no doubt about that. Nearly all her data leads to that. But..." Jeremie hesitated. "..but her mind, it's...it's half human. She has...human DNA..."

There was no denying it. The others knew they couldn't argue with Jeremie. He would never lie to them, not about something as shocking as this. Again silence fell on them as the truth sunk into their minds.

Odd opened his mouth to speak. His voice was shaky. "Who...who did he..."

Jeremie swiveled his chair around. He put his face on his hands and rubbed his head. "I don't know, Odd. I really don't know..."


	20. Confrontation

Odd laid on his bed. He was on his back with his hands resting on his chest. Kiwi was curled up next to him on the bed. The blankets were pulled part way up. He looked up at the ceiling. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

He wasn't able to get to sleep. He looked over at Ulrich. That boy was already fast asleep. Odd wanted to go to bed too. Something was keeping him awake. Was he worried about his next eye exam? Not really. He had already canceled it. Jeremie recommended he do that because he was working on a way to remove the foreign data from his right eye. It took a while to convince the doctor to let him cancel the appointment. He had been so urgent. Odd wasn't upset about missing this appointment.

He wasn't worried about what Jeremie was doing. While he sometimes would be cautious of what he would try, he trusted him completely. If Jeremie says he will find a way to cure him of Therizino's grasp, he would believe him. He knew it would not make him totally invulnerable to her electric pollution powers, but removing whatever she put in his eye would prevent her from attacking him in the real world.

No, his mind was focused on Therizino herself. Specifically, on the fact that she was human. Well sort of. The discovery of human DNA in her code was a shock to everyone. It was completely unexpected. XANA had never done something like this before. Odd couldn't help but feel sorry for whomever XANA managed to kill and extract DNA from.

And that dug deep into his mind. What mission were they on that allowed this to happen? They had always been so careful. If there were possible victims, they would get them to safety. Throughout the battles with XANA, Odd couldn't think of one time where they slipped up and allowed XANA to claim a victim.

The thoughts continued to flood is mind. He bit his lip. He couldn't help but feel an overwhelming guilt rise up inside of him. Had they truly failed to save someone from XANA's wrath? Did they slip up and let someone die because of a mistake on their end? The painful truth was it wasn't so far fetched. Odd himself came close to dying once, at the hands of Jeremie. If Aelita had just been a few seconds late...

He shuddered at the memory. Oh yes, he knew very well the dangers of fighting XANA and how lethal he truly was. He and his friends knew from experience that all it would take is one slip up, one delayed action, and they would be dead.

While he hated Therizino for what she was doing, while he was fearful of her, he also couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She might be as much of a victim as he was. Maybe he should try talking to her next time. A part of him hoped she would try to communicate with him tonight. He could try to get some answers. Maybe he and the others could help her find her way and free her from XANA's influence.

He felt Kiwi get up and move closer to him. The little dog pushed himself under the blankets and curled up on his side. Odd looked at his pet and smiled. He began to stroke the dog's side, feeling his soft fur and his side rising up and down. For a moment, he forgot all about his worries. And sleep finally took a hold of him.

**

After school, Jeremie, Aelita, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi all gathered at the factory. They needed to discuss their next course of action. After what happened yesterday, they all agreed something should be done and fast. It was really frightening for them all to see Odd being attacked internally, to see him so pale and deathly on the ground. It had disturbed Jeremie the most because he had seen it take place. He had seen Odd fall from his former self, from a self-confident outgoing individual into a whimpering little child.

The exact course of plan had not yet been decided. Whatever plan they decided on, it was going to involve risks with a limited chance at victory. They had only one shot at this. If they screwed up, there was little chance at a second strike.

"Are we going into Sector Five to gather more information?" Ulrich asked.

"I thought that was part of the plan." Yumi joined in.

Jeremie nodded his head slowly. "Yeah that was part of the plan. If Aelita can access the complete data storage for Therizino, I could study it and figure out a way to help Odd with his...eye situation." He glanced over at Odd, who had become a little self conscious about his different colored eye. "But even if we do find the information, I don't know yet what our course of action will be."

"We could just toss her into the Digital Sea." Ulrich growled softly.

Shaking his head, Jeremie said, "She might be immune to it. She is XANA's creation and he might have found a way to protect her."

Ulrich didn't agree. "Any of the other monsters that fall in are permanently deleted. What would be so different about her?"

Jeremie sighed. "Well maybe you're right." He leaned forward in his chair slightly and rested his chin on his hands. "Still, I wouldn't be too confident in that. Therizino is a special monster. One of a kind. XANA may have put in some safe guards so she can't be destroyed easily. She isn't like the Krabs, Tarantulas, Blocks...all those XANA could recreate in a heartbeat. Therizino would require him getting another human DNA sample. And that would be harder for him to be able to do on a regular basis."

It was true. Even Ulrich had to admit that Jeremie made a good point. Therizino wasn't a run-of-the-mill XANA monster. She was very intelligent and well versed in the human language and human interaction. And this was because of her human DNA that made up half her mind. Getting such a sample would not be that easy for XANA to pull off without being detected. How he managed to slip past them this time, they weren't sure.

Jeremie turned to his computer screen. He opened up the information regarding Sector Five. He had done a second scan overnight to see if it came up with anything new. His eyes widened when he saw it had picked up something that wasn't there before.

"There's another control panel in Sector Five. One that Aelita does not use." He turned to his friends. They stared at him, eagerly waiting for more info. "This is located in a higher area, harder to get to." Jeremie explained. "This panel may contain the information we need to stop Therizino."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Ulrich got up out of his seat.

Odd, who had been quiet the whole time, finally said something. In a soft voice, he said, "I think I should go alone." The others looked at him with horrified expressions. "Yeah, yeah I know. Taking too many risks. But it is me this monster is after, not you guys. I need to know why she is targeting me, why she hates me. She might be more willing to talk if I go in alone."

"No Odd. I will not allow it. It's too dangerous." Jeremie narrowed his eyes at the boy. "I am responsible for your safety, and the safety of everyone in this room. If I can help it, I will not allow you to go Sector Five by yourself."

"Jeremie, I have to do this!" Odd jumped onto his feet. He walked up to Jeremie and stared at him in the eyes. "I can handle myself, Jeremie. Let me confront Therizino on my own."

"No, Odd!" Yumi interjected. She grabbed Odd's arm and pulled him away. "There's no way we are letting you go alone!"

"Very well." Jeremie's soft voice came. The others stared at him in shock. Yumi stammered, trying to say something. Nothing would come out. Jeremie leaned back in his chair. "If you really want to go to Therizino alone, fine. But I am sending Aelita to check out that scanner. The minute I see you are in danger, Odd, I will devirtualize you."

Odd blinked, then smiled. "Thanks."

Yumi growled. "I can't believe it." She confronted Jeremie as Odd walked over to the scanner. "You are letting him do this by himself?!"

"Are you nuts?" Ulrich cried out. "He could get killed!"

"As I said..." Jeremie tapped his fingers together before swiveling back to the computer screen. "I will devirtualize him the moment he is in major trouble."

**

Odd and Aelita were now in Sector Five. Aelita had run off ahead to find the control panel. With her Energy Field attacks, she could handle herself well in a battle. And there weren't any monsters out yet, which made her trip easier.

After the key was pressed and the timer deactivated, Odd walked slowly through the sector. He looked all around, looking at the blue pillars that would constantly change shape, making the room appear different every time they came in. It always felt so new, no matter how many times he visited this place.

He stopped when he felt footsteps behind him, and a low growl rumbling. He could feel it in his heart. He listened as the creature was getting closer to him. Without turning around, he didn't know which monster it was. It could be a Creeper. It could be Therizino. It could be something else. But deep inside of him, he knew what it was.

"Odd. She's coming." Came Jeremie's voice overhead.

"I know, Jeremie...I know.." Odd whispered.

He slowly turned around, and instantly came face to face with her. Standing several feet away, on the other side of the path, was Therizino. She glared at him, but made no move or noise. The two stared at each other for about a minute, neither daring to move. Therizino's three tails swayed back and forth, much like the tail of an agitated cat. Unconsciously, Odd's tail also swished in irritation.

Finally, Therizino smirked. "Hello Odd..."

"Hi, Therizino." Odd gave a mock friendly wave. "Fancy meeting you were. Say, would you mind answering some questions?"

Therizino flashed her sharp teeth. She got into a fighting stance, tails raised up and clashing together, making that dreadful clang sound. Electricity was building up. She was getting ready to attack. "Gladly..."


	21. Demanding Answers

Odd barely dodged the attack in time. Seconds after the monster clanged her tails together, a wave of purple electricity was sent straight for him. He heard it hit the ground with a crackle. He looked back at Therizino. She charged towards him. Odd jumped in the air and landed on her back.

Odd wrapped his paws around her long neck, interlocking his fingers on the other side and held on tightly. Therizino thrashed around, trying to shape him off. It was like a rodeo, except the horse was an electric monster. Therizino started to throw her back into the wall. This did not deter Odd, who still hung on. When she fell to the ground on her back, Odd turned himself so he was now hanging on the front of the monster.

Therizino glared down at him and shook her head in wide turns. Still the half feline warrior wouldn't let go of her. She snapped her jaws at him. He was out of reach. Finally, she stuck her tongue out and shot a bit of electricity at him. This finally caused Odd to fall to the ground. She raised her paw to strike him, but she stopped when Odd raised his.

"Wait." Odd said as he stared up at her. "I want to know something, remember?" He gave her a weak smile. "Why do you hate me?"

Therizino stared at him. Her paw remained frozen in the air. She looked confused. It was like she didn't expect him to ask that again. For several minutes, there was nothing but silence between the two. She didn't strike down on him. He didn't try to get up. Their eyes remained locked, almost like in a staring contest.

Odd waited for her to answer. He studied her facial expression. It was filled with surprise at first. He noticed it slowly changing to contemplation. Would she finally tell him the truth? Would he now know why she hated him? He saw her eyes begin to narrow slightly. Her mouth was parting. He waited to hear what she had to say.

"You miserable cat boy..." Therizino said through gritted teeth. Electricity sparked out of the corners of her mouth. Odd could see her raised paw tensing further, preparing to strike. "You should know what you did!"

In a second, her paw struck down towards him. Odd rolled out of the way. He winced as he heard the large sickle smack against the flat surface. He looked over and saw that it had dug deep into the floor. If he had been laying there a moment ago, he would be in that same situation.

Odd jumped to his feet. "I don't see why you can't just answer my question. Oh well. Laser Arrow!"

Therizino twisted her head to the side. The arrow barely grazed her. She lowered her head and pawed the ground. "You will have to do better than that, you stupid furball!" She charged towards him.

"I plan on it!" Odd shouted as he rushed towards her on all fours.

**

Aelita moved through Section Five. With Jeremie's direction, she managed to navigate to a part of Sector Five she doesn't remember being in before. It was further up than she had gone in earlier trips. She found herself walking towards a peculiar spot with a faint glow on the ground.

"Jeremie, I think I found it. There's something glowing here..." Aelita said as she approached it.

"Stop! Wait. It should come up." Came Jeremie's instructions.

Aelita paused, a few feet away from the glowing section on the ground. After a few seconds, a ray of light shined up from it. Just as Jeremie predicted, a floating window appeared above the ground. It was no different than any other interface she had seen while in Lyoko. She walked up to it to get a better look.

The screen was blank except for a flashing symbol. She put her hand on it. Some phrase flashed quickly, too fast for her to see. It didn't matter, because now it showed her name and asked for her to input the password. She typed in Lyoko and waited for the console to grant her access to what she wanted. She was shocked when something else happened.

The console started to glow red and it flashed repeatedly. A large lock symbol appeared around the floating screen. Tangible, but what it represented was clear enough. On the screen, a phrase flashed.

**_Warning! Wrong password! Attempted security breach! Lock down! Lock down!_ **

Aelita took several steps back. The flashing continued, increasing in intensity. Then it started playing a sound, something like a siren, only scarier sounding.

"Jeremie! What is happening?" Aelita called out.

Jeremie's voice was filled with panic. "It's a trap! Aelita, get out of there!"

That was easier said than done. The walls around her were starting to move. Aelita froze, wondering what was going to happen. She saw the walls move around her and secure themselves back in place. Her eyes widened. She was going to be locked in here. She began to run back the way she came. The walls fell all around her, trying to trap her in one place.

Aelita kept running as fast as she could. The walls were gaining on her. She didn't know how long she had before she would be caged like an animal. A shot fired at her foot. It forced her to stop. She looked over and saw that XANA sent a couple of Creepers her way.

"Energy Field."

Aelita let the ball of pink energy charge in her hand. Then she throw it at one of the Creepers. It hit dead on, causing it to explode. She was about to fire another one, but she looked behind her and saw the walls were only about a foot away now. She broke into a run.

"Jeremie!" She said while she ran. Up ahead, there was a ledge. "Hurry! Bring me in!"

"Right!" Jeremie started typing away at the keyboard.

Aelita stopped at the edge of the cliff. She looked down. She was really high up. She turned back to the walls. They closed in on her now, encasing her completely, except for a wall on the edge. A wall moved in towards her, pushing her further and further towards the edge.

"Please..hurry..."

The wall pushed her closer and closer. She slipped and fell down. She grabbed the edge with her hands, desperately hanging on. Her eyes widened in terror as the walls pushed onto her hands. She tried not to scream. She struggled to hang on, her grip slowly slipping, her hands pushed closer and closer to the edge.

"Jeremie..."

Then it happened. The wall pushed her hands so close to the edge she was just hanging by her fingers now. It continued to push until she could no longer support her own weight. Her fingers slipped off. She plummeted down.

"Jeremie!" She called out.

"There!" Jeremie's voice was heard as Aelita broke apart.

**

Odd dug his claws into Therizino's leg. She howled as he cut her open. She grabbed him by his foot and tossed him away. He hit against the wall in a thud. She lunged towards him, mouth agape. He leaped out of the way, allowing her to crash into the wall. She was dazed for a moment, shaking her head, but she wasn't done yet. She reared onto her hind legs and let out a roar.

Odd fired more Laser Arrows at her. A few hit her in some places, like the neck and legs. Others, she managed to dodge or he had misfired. Despite all the arrows he managed to hit her with, she wasn't slowing down. She didn't show any signs of losing energy, no signs of her close to being destroyed. He gritted his teeth. What would it take to make her back off?

After dodging another blast, he started climbing up a tall platform. At least he would now have a height advantage. It didn't take him long to realize he was wrong. He heard a scraping sound. He looked down and saw that Therizino was climbing up after him. Her large sickle claws supported her weight as she scaled up with him.

"Oh great. Someone else who can climb. How could I have forgotten?" Odd muttered to himself. He sped up his climbing, trying to put distance between him and Therizino.

The red monster narrowed her eyes. She put her left paw up, digging her claws deep into the structure. A bolt of electricity danced around her paw and her eyes glowed slightly.

Odd felt a sharp jab in his head. He winced and froze where he was. His world was spinning again. He wanted to hold his head and lay down, but if he did that, he would fall down. He continued to climb up. As he did so, the pain increased. And it spread to his chest again. He let out a gasp of agony as his heart started beating faster again. Hyperventilating, he hugged the surface of the platform tightly, his body shaking in pain.

Then he did something Therizino did not expect. He let go and whipped his body around, much like a feline. His eyes were wide in anger and pain. His paws were hooked, the claws heading towards her. Odd landed on Therizino's head. He dug his claws deep into it. The red dragon, taken aback by this attack, threw her head back and roared. She lost her footing and they both plummeted back down.

Therizino landed on her back in a loud thud. If there were dust around her, it would all be kicked up by her weight. She looked up and saw Odd standing there. He was still trembling in pain, but he was fighting it, pointing his gloved hand to her forehead, where the Eye Of XANA was.

When he hesitated to shoot, Therizino glared at him. "Why don't you do it? Finish me if you are brave enough!"

"You still haven't answered my question." Odd said, not moving his arm an inch. "Tell me the reason you hate me."

Therizino let out a hiss. She glared up at the boy, her teeth bared. Silence remained between them for several moments. Slowly, a creepy smile spread across her long muzzle. She let out a dark chuckle. "You are going to let me die, aren't you?"

The phrase froze Odd where he stood. That phrase..it was familiar... His mind began to flood with memories as he remembered.


	22. The Reason For Hatred

Flashback:

The ground shook beneath Odd's feet violently. The hallways were breaking apart, opening up. It threatened to swallow him whole. He made a leap, making it to the other side of the gap. He looked above him. The building was starting to crumble down. Heavy chunks of ceiling were falling all around him. He made a run for it.

He was located in a small shop in the town nearest to Kadic. XANA had made it his target. Jeremie wasn't sure why XANA would target a seemingly useless location like this at first. Then he learned, through research, that underneath the building, in a special storage, chemicals were stored. He guessed XANA wanted to cause an explosion to rip the walls down and force the chemicals to spill into the soil, which could, in theory, poison the people of Kadic, including the Lyoko Warriors.

Despite being a small building, Odd found it was taking longer and longer to get to the exit. He could see it up ahead. Bright light indicated its presence. Darkness was all around him. The lights had gone out and it was sunset outside. He pushed himself to go faster.

"Help me!" A croaked voice sounded out.

Odd stopped in his tracks. He turned around and gasped. There was a young teenager, a little older than himself, trapped in the building. Why hadn't he seen her before? How long had she been here? He rushed towards her side.

The girl was laying on her stomach across a slap of stone. Another piece of stone laid across her back, crushing her down. She had covered in cuts and bruises, some Odd guessed she got when she was struggling to free herself. Her hair was messed up and plastered to her face. She looked at Odd with great desperation, gritting her teeth. She reached her hand out towards him.

Odd grabbed it and tried to pull her out. The teenager let out a cry of pain when Odd pulled too hard. He let go, not wanting to dislocate her shoulder. He moved to her side. He thought for a moment. What else could he do to free her? He grabbed the stone slab and tried to lift it up. It was too heavy for him. He couldn't lift it up at all, no matter how hard he tried.

He took a step back. He looked down at her sympathetically. He wanted to free her. But he didn't know what he could do. He looked around the crumbling building. He tried to find something he could use to give him some leverage. He found nothing.

"Please..." The teenager gasped. "C-Can't you help me...? Please..."

"I-I want to..." Odd said, his voice filled with worry. "But I'm too weak too..."

He stopped right there. In his mind, he searched for anything that might be useful. He remembered he saw Jim walking around outside. He wasn't sure what he was doing. That didn't matter. Jim might be strong enough to lift this slab. Yes, he needed to get Jim. He could only hope the building didn't completely collapse while he was gone.

Odd made his way back towards the door. He walked at first, and started to speed up. Behind him, he could hear the teenager's voice cry out.

"Wait! Don't leave me! Where are you going?"

Odd stopped briefly and looked at her. "I am going to get help! I'll be back as soon as I can!"

He started running towards the door. Before he got out, he heard the teenager hiss in pain, with some anger mixed into it.

The teenager said furiously, "You are going to let me die, aren't you?"

Odd didn't get more than ten feet away when he heard a collapse behind him. He felt his heart freeze. He slowly turned around. The building had completely collapsed. Smoke rose from the force of the recent impact. He slowly walked up to the rubble. He didn't need to find the girl's body to know she had been crushed to death.

He felt his knees get weak and he collapsed onto the ground. He had failed her. He had failed to save someone from XANA's wrath. The fact that he experienced failure weighed heavily on his mind. He wanted to dig the girl out. But he knew it would be pointless. She was gone. Even though he didn't know her, he felt tears of remorse filling his eyes.

"No..." Odd said softly. "It..can't be true..."

He felt his phone vibrate. He picked it up. It was Jeremie.

"Hey Odd, did you manage to evacuate everyone?" Jeremie said.

Odd's voice was trembling. "N-No...someone..someone was..."

Jeremie said, "Odd? What happened?"

"Someone...d..." Odd sniffled. "They.."

That was all he could manage to get out. He had started to walk back and he didn't look where he was going. His foot caught on a rock. He tripped and fell to the ground. His head hit against a stone slab and he was knocked out. Jeremie's cries of desperation, asking for him, they were fading as his world went dark.

End Flashback:

That impact must have wiped the memory of the incident from his mind. That was what Odd believed. It took Therizino's statement to make the memories flood back to him. He stood on her chest, staring blankly outwards. A shocked expression started to plaster on his face.

Slowly, he looked down, meeting eyes with Therizino. She glared at him, a small smile spread across her face. The realization of what XANA did hit Odd hard. He was so stunned he didn't move. He just continued staring at Therizino wide-eyed, mouth agape.

Therizino took this opportunity. While Odd was still reeling from the discovery, she lifted a foot and kicked Odd in the chest and stomach. The warrior yelped in pain as he crashed into the ground. He laid there on his side, struggling to get to his feet. Therizino closed in on him and kicked him again, sending him flying against the wall in a heavy thud.

He managed to get up to his feet. His expression was still that of shock, but he held his paws in front of her, claws ready to strike. Therizino smirked and raised her left paw. Odd's eyes widened as he knew what was coming. In seconds, he was down on the ground, gripping his chest. Therizino lowered her hand, the electricity around it growing in intensity. Soon Odd was curled up in a ball, hands clutched to his chest, shaking in pain.

Odd coughed in pain, holding his chest tighter, hoping to make it go away. He wanted to cry out to Jeremie to get him out. He wanted to curse at himself for going here to face Therizino alone. What a fool he had been. He should have asked for help when he needed it. Now he was going to die here. He opened up a pain filled eye and looked up at Therizino.

The red dragon was smiling in satisfaction at his pain. Without saying a word, she moved towards him slowly, deliberately. Once she was at his side, her paw stopped sparkling. Odd felt immense relief when the pain in his chest went away. His relief didn't last long. Therizino pounded her paw onto his stomach and chest.

She dug her claws into his body, penetrating his digital form. Her sickle claw pressed close to his neck, almost grazing it. Despite the fact that this would only devirtualize him, Odd felt immense fear as he watched the dragon dig into his body with her claws. There was no blood, but the pain was still there.

"What are you...going to do to me?" Odd managed to ask, his eyes never leaving the sickle claw by his neck.

Therizino chuckled. "That would be telling, wouldn't it? Why don't I show you?"

With that, the red monster released her foot from Odd. Before he could run, she slammed her head into him, knocking him senseless. She grabbed him in her jaws. Carrying him like a predator would its prey, she walked along the pathway. Odd didn't know where she was taking him at first. He struggled to get free. She just bit harder, holding him securely in her mouth.

They reached the outside of Sector Five. Out ahead, he could see nothing but the Digital Sea. He knew the other sectors were there. They were just out of sight. Therizino stopped at the edge, her claws digging in to the platform. Odd looked down, seeing the Digital Sea moving below. His eyes widened as he realized what she was going to do.

"No...no you wouldn't..." Odd whimpered.

Therizino didn't answer. She moved her head back and threw it out hard. Her jaws opened up, sending the cat boy flying down towards the sea below. She grinned as she watched him fall.


	23. The Realization

"Odd! No!" Ulrich cried out.

"Jeremie! Pull him in!" Yumi shouted.

Jeremie typed frantically at the keyboard. His fingers moved faster than they ever had before. He pressed the final button. He watched as Odd's card drained, indicating devirtualization. He sighed in relief when the card emptied before Odd hit the Digital Sea.

The group ran into the scanner room. One of the scanners opened and Odd fell out. He rubbed his head and looked up. He didn't say a word. He didn't have to. The look on his face told everything. Ulrich bent down and helped him up to his feet. He held Odd until he regained his balance.

"I knew we shouldn't have let you go in there alone." Ulrich scolded his friend. "What were you thinking? You were almost killed!"

Odd gave a weak smile. "Yeah, I guess that was a little reckless, wasn't it?"

Ulrich shook the boy by his shoulders. "This is no time to joke, Odd! We don't want to lose you! Do you know how worried you made us all?"

Odd looked at the others. They stared at them, frowning with concern. They nodded their heads slowly, confirming what Ulrich was saying. Odd felt guilt inside of him. Why had he insisted on going alone? He knew it was stupid from the start. He was just so desperate to get answers, he thought he could do it alone. Oh how wrong he had been.

He opened his mouth to speak. No words came out. He gave a sigh and looked away. He lowered his head, eyes closed. He sat down on the ground, holding his head in his hands. The others just watched him, not saying a word. A lot had happened. It would take time to let it all sink in.

After a few minutes, Odd looked back up at his friends. He had to tell them what Therizino told him. They had to know why she was targeting him.

"Therizino..told me why she hates me." Odd said.

"She did?" Aelita asked.

Jeremie said, "What did she tell you?"

Odd hesitated, looking away. Taking a deep breath, he looked up at Jeremie. "Do you remember the time XANA tried to pour chemicals into the river and soil near Kadic?"

Jeremie nodded his head. "Yes I remember. Why?"

"I never..finished telling you what happened." Odd swallowed hard. It was painful reliving the memories. "There was someone trapped. I..I couldn't save her. She died...because of me.." He closed his eyes, letting some tears escape.

Realization struck the group instantly. They looked at each other. None of them had realized someone died during a mission. How could they have missed it? How did they not check on things after the Return To The Past trip? How could they have believed everything was fine, when someone had lost their life?

Jeremie stared at the crying Odd. He felt bad for him. Odd liked being the hero. He liked saving the day. He must feel very low right now, knowing that he had failed to save someone's life when he had the chance.

His thoughts turned to Therizino. This had to be the reason why she hated Odd so much. Her mind was half human. That human mind must have been from the teen that Odd failed to rescue. Jeremie wasn't sure how XANA pulled it off, but he did. Now he had a monster that carried part of this mind with her. Jeremie doubted that she had the teenager's full memories with her, nor did he think she believed she was human one time.

But she did have some thoughts of this teenager. The teenager must have really hated Odd for leaving her. Her brain shut down during this, and this was what XANA picked up. Therizino remembered Odd doing something, and while she may know it wasn't really her, she still carried hatred towards Odd because of it. She carried the dead teenager's hatred of him.

A part of her may even believe that Odd will be the death of her. That would explain why she's so desperate to get rid of him, why she tried throwing him into the Digital Sea. They would need to work on a plan to stop her. It has become more urgent. It has become clear that Therizino will not go down until someone died.

It was either Therizino or Odd. And Jeremie knew which one it had to be.

**

The next day, everyone met in Jeremie's room. Jeremie said down at his computer and looked at his friends. He had called them in early in the morning, before any classes started. Everyone was dressed already, but they looked tired, like they literally got out of bed. No one complained, though. Everyone agreed the meeting was important.

Jeremie folded his arms against his chest. He looked at everyone with a serious expression. They knew what this meant. They were about to go on a mission, one that had a lot of significance. One that they could not simply delay.

"We need a way to destroy Therizino. If we don't stop her, she will...kill Odd." The others nodded in agreement. "I have been doing a lot of thinking, and I believe I figured out a way to get rid of her."

Aelita spoke up. "Should I try hacking that panel again? I think it contains important information. If I could only get into it..."

Jeremie raised his hand. "No. It's too risky. You remember what happened the last time." He looked at her sadly. "I don't want you to take that risk again. The panel has been rigged to trap and destroy anyone who is not the panel's owner, which I suspect is Therizino herself."

"You were saying Jeremie?" Yumi asked.

"Yeah, what were you going to tell us?" Odd asked.

Jeremie pushed his glasses back up. "Well I did some more research before I went to bed last night. And I found something interesting." He looked at the computer screen. "I found that Therizino was not created in the Ice Sector like I first thought. She was created in the Mountain Sector. In the Way Tower there, it contains a program that is keeping her, essentially, alive. If we destroy it..."

"..we destroy Therizino." Ulrich cracked his knuckles. "Let's get on with it!"

"Not so fast." Jeremie interjected. "I discovered more than that. The area containing her code is heavily protected. It will take time for me to hack it. And..." He looked at each of his friends. "The Way Tower will be heavily protected. Therizino will not go down without a fight."

The group was silent, taking this in. They never went into a battle like this. They would need to use everything they got to pull this off. Odd's life was on the line. If they failed the save him, what would stop Therizino from picking off the rest of them out of spite?

Odd rose up onto his feet. He looked at his friends. He then stared at Jeremie. "We've taken risks before, right Jeremie? And we've come out on top." He gingerly pressed his hand against his purple eye. "I think we can do it. I think we can overcome this. Right guys?" The others slowly smiled and nodded in agreement. Odd flashed Jeremie his trademark goofy grin. "So when are we going, Einstein?"

Jeremie smiled at his nickname. Odd hadn't called him that in a while. "This afternoon. By tonight, if we all play our cards right, Therizino will be defeated."


	24. Lethal Hallucination

Odd couldn't help but smile. By tonight, his whole ordeal would be over. They would be able to go back and focus on regular XANA problems instead of an unusually intelligent monster. He looked forward to being able to charge a group of Blocks and not worry about them trying to chit chat with him. He wanted a tower to be activated and not feel sick from it.

All that would be possible by tonight. Jeremie had a plot to get rid of her. He trusted in his abilities. He trusted his friends' abilities. Yes, they would pull this off. Therizino would be defeated. He could feel it in his heart. She would go down.

 _'Oh you think it will be that easy?'_ A familiar evil voice sneered in his head. Odd froze. _'Remember, as long as you have the Mark, I can hear your every thought.'_

Odd took a step back. He didn't realize his friends calling his name. His eyes went wide. "No.." He whispered in a low voice.

 _'I know Jeremie's plan. And I must tell you, it will fail.'_ Therizino laughed darkly. _'I know everything you do, boy. You cannot hide anything from me.'_

"No!" Odd cried out, gripping his head tightly. "No, get out of my head!"

"Odd!" Ulrich panicked. He shook Odd. "Snap out of it! Odd!"

"What's going on?" Yumi cried as she ran up to the panicking child.

"It's Therizino!" Jeremie realized.

Their voices fell on deaf ears. Odd could not hear them. He only heard Therizino's laughter. He wanted to get away from her. He wanted her to leave him alone. He squeezed his head harder, to the point where his fingertips started to scrape his scalp.

_'Do not resist me, child.'_

"Shut up!" Odd yelled loudly. He arched his back, teeth bared in pain.

"Fight it Odd!" Aelita hoped Odd would hear her. Alas, he showed no reaction to her or anyone's voices. Therizino must be blocking them out. She watched as Ulrich shook Odd harder. "Please, you can do it Odd!"

 _'You see, I control the electrical impulses in your brain. I can control your experience, your very touch of reality.'_ Therizino snickered. _'If you do not believe me, open your eyes and see what I did. Have a taste of your nightmare.'_

Odd was reluctant. He didn't want to open his eyes. He knew it would be something terrifying. And he wouldn't be able to tell if it is real or not. Therizino could make any experience feel very real. She could make the pain real, the sensations real, the emotions real.

Despite this, he felt himself open his eyelids slowly. Logically, he knew he was still in Jeremie's room. But when he opened his eyes, a very different scene unfolded around him.

He stood in the middle of a large barren landscape. Cracks littered the ground. Dry dead plants were all around him. The sky was a dusty orange, the clouds swirling violently. All around him, he could hear cries of pain and misery. The smell of blood was in the air. A horrible cackle pierced through him, causing him to shudder.

Odd walked slowly, looking at his surroundings in horror. Just where was he? Nothing about the place seemed familiar. He didn't find any bodies despite the smell of death hanging all around him. He continued walking. He hoped he would find some answers if he just kept going. Something, someone must be here.

He didn't know why he was doing this. He must still be in Jeremie's room, shouldn't he? His friends may be trying to wake him up now. Ulrich is probably shaking him as hard as he could. But he couldn't feel any of it. The electric pollution was sucking him further into this twisted reality. He felt himself filling with dread and fear. He hugged his arms to himself and shook. What will it take for him to wake up from this nightmare?

He stopped in his tracks when he saw a familiar sight. A broken cylinder laid across him. It had been shattered, a large chunk resting several feet away. It was a Lyoko tower. He was in a ruined sector of Lyoko. He couldn't believe it. Then those sounds, could they have been...his friends?

He could a familiar sound behind him. A heavy splash sound. He turned around and saw the same three goop monsters from before. This time, they looked stronger than before and their heads were split open, showing jagged edges. Odd widened his eyes and started to run.

_'You cannot escape me!'_

The goop monsters formed a single large puddle and shot out towards Odd. The boy ran as fast as he could. He felt his heart pounding in his chest. He didn't want to look back. He heard the goop monsters getting close to him, so close that he could feel them wrapping around his ankle. He screamed and kicked them away. He tripped and fell into the ground.

The monsters encircled him, trapping him in the center of a large black circle. They formed their heads and hands again and remained connected to each other. They closed in on the boy. Odd tried to get away, but he wasn't fast enough. The monsters wrapped themselves around his body. He screamed as they started biting into him and clawing at him. Blood dripped from the new wounds.

Odd struggled with all his might. The monsters hugged him tighter, pulling him to the ground. They covered up his legs first, then his waist and lower body. They were pinning him to the ground. Soon his arms couldn't move, entangled so deeply in the black blob's clutches. Finally only his head remained uncovered. That wasn't going to last very long. The blob started covering up his face slowly.

_'This will be your grave, Odd.'_

"None of this is real!" Odd cried out. "It's not real!"

_'Oh but your mind thinks it is. Once you are deprived of your...breathing apparatus, you will suffocate because your brain will think this is all real.'_

Odd's eyes widened. His struggles increased with vigor. He was unable to stop the blob from covering his face. His nose and mouth were completely sealed, clamped shut. The monsters left only his eyes visible, likely to allow Therizino to watch his death with glee. Odd tried to breathe, but found himself unable to.

 _'Please help me..somebody..anybody...'_ He begged in his mind. A tear streaked down his face. _'Help...'_

**

Back in the real world, Odd had ran all the way to the factory. His friends followed suit. By the time they reached him, he was near the scanners. When they approached him, to their shock, he suddenly gasped for air and collapsed down.

Odd just laid on the ground, his hands wrapped around his throat. His mouth was open, trying to take in a breath. Even though nothing was stopping him, the others realized, in horror, he wasn't taking in a breath. His eyes were wide in desperation, begging for life. Ulrich tried to shake him out of it, but he wasn't responding.

They didn't know what to do. Therizino must be behind this. They couldn't get to a tower in time. Odd would choke to death in less than a minute. They wouldn't be able to save him unless they found another way to release him from Therizino's grasp. But what could they do? They realized, solemnly, they had little options available to them.

Yumi covered her mouth as she watched the scene play out in front of her. She found Odd annoying at times, and there were times she wished he'd just shut up. But this isn't how she wanted it to happen. She wanted to help him feel better. But she knew nothing she would do could help him now.

Aelita looked over at Jeremie. She saw the look of despair in his eyes, the look of failure. She turned back to Odd. His face was starting to turn blue. She bit her lip. This couldn't be the end. No, there had to be something they could do.

"Odd..." She whispered in a low voice. She turned to Jeremie. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

Jeremie didn't look at her. "I..I don't know." He slumped his shoulders. "Without deactivating that tower..."

Aelita stared at him and looked back at Odd. Ulrich was standing over him, trying to give him CPR. He breathed into his mouth and pounded his chest, cursing when Odd failed to take a breath. Yumi watched this, tears brimming in her eyes. She shook her head slowly in denial. Jeremie's eyes were downcast. Aelita could almost feel the guilt radiating off of him.

Aelita saw something out in front of her. She narrowed her eyes. She knew what she had to do. She walked towards it.

"Aelita? Where are you going?" Jeremie saw what she picked up and his eyes widened. "No! What are you doing?!"

"Saving Odd." Came Aelita's reply, then she struck down before anyone could stop her.

"No!" The others cried in unison.

Then there was a blinding flash of light.


	25. Going Ahead

Odd was losing hope. His struggling battle against the black blobs was a losing one. His strength was waning. His body cried out for oxygen. He tried to breathe. Nothing came through. His mouth and nose were still pressed tightly shut, preventing any airflow. He couldn't help but cry. He never thought he would go like this, alone in his own mind.

He could hear Therizino's laughter in his head. He could almost see her face, staring down at him from the back of his mind, sneering at his pain. She was enjoying this. He didn't need to see her face to know this was true.

He stopped struggling completely. He fell limp in the black blob's clutches. He slowly closed his eyes. The lack of oxygen was getting to him now. He wasn't going to last much longer. He could only wait for the end. Therizino had won. They had failed to stop her. Odd's only regret is that he would no longer be able to help the others to stop her and XANA. If only...

Just then, a bright light formed overhead. He opened his eyes, squinting at the light's intensity. It rapidly filled the skies, and soon covered the ground. The monsters around him clung to him tighter. The light touched them and the monsters cried out in pain. They disintegrated, releasing Odd. Then Odd found himself enveloped in the white light.

**

Odd's eyes snapped open. He took in a shaky, scratchy breath. He sat himself up with one arm. His hand was on his chest. He took in several breaths, each sounding just as fragile as the previous ones. His eyes were very wide and his mouth wide open. It took him several minutes to catch his breath. He coughed a few times, and looked up.

Standing over him was Aelita, her eyes wide in shock. In her hand, a cut wire with electricity sparking out of it. "It worked..." Aelita whispered before dropping the wire and wrapping her arms around Odd, pulling him into a hug. "You're..you're alive!"

Odd groaned softly. He weakly hugged her back. "Y-Yeah...you can't get rid of me that easily..."

The others gave a sigh of relief. Ulrich, Yumi, and Jeremie rushed to Odd's side. They helped him up to his feet and took him into the computer room. They set Odd down next to Jeremie's chair and backed away, giving him breathing room.

"I-I guess this is b-becoming like the new infirmary, huh?" Odd joked, pointing out the fact that him getting sick in the factory was becoming a common occurrence.

"We are just glad you are okay." Jeremie smiled at him.

"Yeah, we thought we lost you." Yumi whispered.

Ulrich placed a hand on Odd's shoulder and squeezed it. "Don't scare us again like that." He said sternly.

Odd could see Ulrich's smile. "Don't worry..." He tried to laugh, but it only came out as garbled coughs. After a moment, he said, "I guess..Th-Therizino is getting desperate to kill me."

Jeremie nodded gravely. "She almost killed you yesterday. And she almost succeeded today. We need to act fast before..."

Odd interrupted him. "She knows, Jeremie."

"What?"

Odd shook his head slowly. "She knows what your plan is. She knows everything I do." He looked at his friends and sighed softly. "That means that she will be prepared for anything. She might have moved that data..."

"It would be too risky. I doubt she'd tried that." Jeremie said. He scratched his chin. This was a problem he should have foreseen. He didn't know why he hadn't seen it before. What were they going to do? If Therizino could read Odd's thoughts, then no matter what plan he discussed, she would know about it. "This is going to be tough..." He said at least.

Jeremie thought about this for a while. He remained quiet, not speaking a word. Odd's news was grave indeed. No matter what he came up with, Odd would hear and so would Therizino. He didn't want Odd to feel left out by huddling with the others and whispering the plan. That could also backfire on them. If Odd doesn't know the plan, couldn't he accidentally screw things up?

They could take the risk and just go to Lyoko now. Therizino may have found a counter plan. But they could try to break through it. They could fight against Therizino's attempts to keep herself from being deleted and get to the Way Tower. Yet there was still that chance they would fail. Therizino had command of the monsters, according to what he had witnessed earlier. What if she had a whole army there waiting for them?

He leaned back in his chair. He continued to be in deep thought. He tapped his fingertips together, his head tilted slightly upwards. He looked up towards the ceiling. He could hear the soft chattering of his friends. He wondered if any of them were coming up with a plan. He hoped so. He couldn't think of a proper course of action that would work for them. He had only two ideas, to just go in now or to come up with a new strategy excluding Odd, and both could easily backfire on them all. He could use a different plan right about now.

"Hey Jeremie."

Looking up, Jeremie could see Yumi walking up to him. "What is it, Yumi?"

"Did you think of anything?" Yumi asked.

Jeremie closed his eyes and shook his head. "There's only two courses of action I can see we take, but both are filled with risk and we could...lose." He looked up at her. "Did any of the others think of anything?"

Yumi sighed. "No. We couldn't think of anything." She eyed Odd sympathetically. "If only we could get rid of that purple eye of his. It would save us a lot of grief."

"Yeah..." Jeremie stared at Odd. His eyes widened. "Wait..."

"What?" Yumi asked.

Jeremie didn't answer at first. He thought back to Aelita's actions. She had grabbed a live wire and hit Odd with it. The voltage had broke him out of whatever hallucination Therizino had trapped him in. He didn't think much of it at first, but now he had to wonder. Just how did it work? How was it the voltage didn't hurt Odd more? How did it bring him back?

He could still see purple in Odd's eye. So it didn't destroy whatever was implanted. But it was possible, maybe, that the voltage disrupted the signal. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully at this. What would happen if they subjected him to more voltage? No that was insane. They couldn't do that to him. What if it hurt him more?

But what if they went somewhere with a lot of electricity around? That might muffle the signal. It might give them an edge. His hopes were doused when he remembered Odd's purple eye. Even if they could discuss in secret, Therizino would still know the plan because Odd would surely think about it.

He lowered his head. "Never mind. I thought I had something." He clenched his hand into a fist. "Curse that purple eye!" He felt like kicking something.

Jeremie didn't notice Odd walking up to him at first. He was too caught up in his thoughts. When he looked up and saw Odd standing there, he was so shocked he almost fell back off the chair. After calming himself down, he looked at Odd.

"Odd, I didn't see you come over." Jeremie said.

Odd smiled. "I didn't know I scared you. Next time, I'll make more noise so you know I'm coming."

Jeremie narrowed his eyes. "I wasn't scared. I was...surprised."

Odd grinned. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Einstein."

"What did you want to say, Odd?" Yumi asked before Jeremie could retort. "You look like you've got a plan."

Shrugging, the boy said, "I guess you could say that." He turned to Jeremie. "I think we should just go to Lyoko, despite Therizino knowing the plan." Jeremie and Yumi looked at him shocked. From behind, Odd knew that Aelita and Ulrich were doing the same thing. "If we don't go now, who knows what she'll do?"

"Odd, you always were a reckless one." Ulrich said just loud enough for him to hear.

"I'm just saying. I think it's worth the risk to go now if it means Therizino will be destroyed." Odd explained. "If we wait, what if she..." He trailed off, not wanting to mention her wanting to kill him. He continued, "Let's just do it, okay?"

Aelita said, "What about Therizino?"

Odd smiled at her. "I will keep her busy."

Jeremie stared at him. He couldn't believe how insane Odd was being, and brave too. He was willing to go through with the plan even with Therizino knowing what they were going to do. He was going to use himself as distraction, to keep Therizino busy while the others went to work. Jeremie wasn't sure if Odd was being stupid or what.

He shook his head slowly. "Sometimes, you scare me, Odd." He paused for a moment. "All right, let's do it."


	26. Trap

The plan to go to the Mountain Sector may not have been as hopeless as initially believed. Odd remembered that Therizino could only read his thoughts through an activated tower. She might not know everything that is going to happen. That would be a big help.

Unfortunately, there was no way to know if she had a tower activated or not. Even if Jeremie were to update the scanner, she had masked the recent tower activation. Jeremie had not yet been able to locate it. Whatever Therizino did, it was working well. It might still be active for all he knew. Though that was unlikely since Therizino didn't have the same power level as XANA. She'd have to turn it off to conserve energy.

It felt weird doing this, preparing for what seemed like war. He knew there had to be an army of monsters waiting for them when they reached Lyoko. He knew Therizino would do anything in her power to protect herself. Would they even win?

Odd couldn't afford to be negative, not now. Not when they came so close. They had come so far in this. In the beginning, they had no idea what was going on, no idea what this thing was. Now they had practically all the answers about Therizino, and it would be enough to take her down.

A part of him felt a little guilty. Since he found out why Therizino hated him, he wondered if things would have been different if he had managed to save that girl. Would Therizino still have existed? Perhaps. XANA would have gotten another mind, perhaps a mind that was not obsessed with hating him.

But that was all in the past, he knew. There was no sense in feeling bad about it now. He had to be ready. He had to be focused on the task at hand. He stood in front of the scanner. The others had already gone inside. They were already on Lyoko. They were waiting for him. He took a deep breath and entered the scanner.

**

Odd dropped down from the air. He landed on the rocky surface of the Mountain Sector. He stood up and saw he was standing next to his friends. They were on the other side of the sector. The Way Tower was far off in the distance. Odd looked around and saw there were no monsters. He felt kind of disappointed, but that was one obstacle they don't need to worry about now.

The group wasted no time talking. Jeremie virtualized their vehicles. They each got on their respective vehicle. Aelita got on with Odd, holding onto him. The group went off, heading in the direction of the tower.

For the first few minutes, the trip was quiet. Once in a while, they would look around, trying to see if there were any monsters nearby. But Jeremie wasn't saying anything about monsters and he'd spot them well before they would. No monsters in the Mountain Sector? That was weird. They wondered where they could have gotten to. Was Therizino bluffing?

Now the Way Tower was about twenty feet away. There were still no signs of monsters. This was easy. Too easy. Where were the monsters? The group stopped where they were and got off the vehicles. They took a few steps towards the Way Tower and stopped. Even though Jeremie didn't warn them about monsters, they had a look around, half expecting them to suddenly virtualize in front of their eyes.

"This doesn't feel right." Aelita said, looking around. "This feels like it's a trap."

"But there's no monsters in sight. Jeremie would have warned us." Ulrich said.

Odd began walking towards the tower. "We won't know until we get there. We'll just have to be on our guard is all."

The others agreed and walked with Odd towards the Way Tower. They kept looking from side to side, keeping an eye out for monsters. It did feel like they were being baited. Despite no warning, it was like they could feel something's presence. As they approached the tower, that feeling grew stronger.

And they were right.

"G...Guys...do you...r..read me now?" Jeremie's voice was crackled and jerky. It was like there was some strong interference.

"Jeremie?" Yumi said loudly, tilting her head up. "What's the problem?"

"Finally...some..interference...I think it's..Therizino...Sh...She's blocking..." Jeremie said. It was a little hard to understand him, but the others able to make out the gist of it. "Mon...monsters...a lot...corner..."

Then Jeremie went silent. Therizino broke the connection again. There must be an activated tower somewhere. Whether it was Therizino or XANA, they weren't sure. They just knew that something was keeping Jeremie from communicating with them.

Knowing they were heading for a trap, they all froze where they stood. They looked around to find the monsters Jeremie warned them about. At first, they didn't see anything. Then they saw movement. They looked at the Way Tower, which was surrounded by a wall with only a small opening. As they stared, they saw a massive group of Blocks, Hornets, and Krankrelats move out, heading for them. And behind them was Therizino herself.

Therizino smirked at the Lyoko Warriors. "You didn't think this was going to be easy, did you?" She glanced down at her army. "This is but a small taste." She gestured her head for the warriors to look the way they had come. "They want to play as well."

The Lyoko Warriors gasped when they saw a large group made up of Krabs and Tarantulas heading their way. They looked back at Therizino, stunned. They knew to expect trouble when they came. They didn't know it was going to be this bad. There were no less than twenty monsters around them, and they were coming straight for them.

Soon the monsters stopped. They formed a circle around the Lyoko Warriors, all poised to attack. The group waited for them to make a move. The monsters remained still. Instead, the Krankrelats and Blocks parted to allow Therizino to move closer.

She stared down at them, almost beaming in pride in what she pulled off. She had the warriors completely surrounded. With this many monsters, it wouldn't be hard to devirtualize them all, except for Odd. She had plans for him.

"Welcome, humans! Welcome!" Therizino raised her head up high. "I must say I am impressed you bothered showing up. I mean, after all..." She lowered her head, sneering at them with her bright yellow eyes, narrowed into slits. "I know of what you plan to do. I will guarantee that you will never reach this tower!"

"Don't count on it." Ulrich raised his swords threateningly. The others took fighting stances alongside him, glaring at Therizino with a strong sense of determination.

The red dragon scoffed at this. Pressing a paw against her chest, she said "Oh please, like I'm so scared!" She moved her head closer to them. "I am not scared of you."

"I hope you aren't underestimating us." Yumi said, holding her fan out, her arm tensed as she was preparing to throw it. "That is a mistake you cannot afford."

Therizino chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind. But for now, why don't you focus your attention on them?"

Therizino gave a gesture to the monsters around them. The Lyoko Warriors watched as the monsters prepared to attack. Beams were being charged up, ready to fire. Therizino got closer to the group. They moved back as far as they could go. She lowered her head and turned it to the side. Her yellow eye was inches away from Odd's face. "And as for you..."

Before the others could do something, Therizino snagged Odd in his jaws. She ran towards the group of Krabs and Tarantulas. With a fling of her neck, she sent Odd flying several yards away, well past the group of monsters. He rolled and stumbled across the ground before stopping on his side, his face against the floor.

"Odd!" The others shouted in unison. They ran where he was thrown, but the monsters blocked their path. Lasers shot at them and they were forced back. Therizino smirked at them before heading to where Odd was.

Odd rubbed his head. "Wow, that hurt..more than I thought."

He shook his head and got off the ground. He turned until he was able to see the group of monsters attacking his friends. His eyes went big.

"Guys!" He cried out and ran towards them.

Suddenly Therizino jumped in front of him. The ground shook slightly as her weight smashed into it. Odd jumped back as Therizino towered over him. She smiled at him at first, chuckling light-heartedly, as if mocking him. Then a wild, ferocious look replaced it. Her teeth bared, electricity sparkling in her mouth, she advanced threateningly towards Odd.

"Guys..." Odd said. "A little help?"

He jumped as Therizino swiped her paw at him. He tried to get around her, but she kept getting in his way. He tried jumping over her once, but she knocked him away with a swipe of her paw. Odd realized, in horror, that Therizino was herding him away from his friends. She was isolating him.

And he recalled what happened when he tried to fight her alone.

"You will not be escaping me this time, cat boy..." Therizino declared before charging him.


	27. Struggle On The Mountaintop

A Hornet dove down towards the group. It opened fired with its stinger. Yumi blocked it with her fan before tossing it up, slicing through the Hornet and destroying it. She barely had time to react when another Hornet came in from behind. When she got out of the way, she caught the fan she threw and tossed it again, this time at the second Hornet.

She looked over and, through the mess of monsters, she could make out Therizino running off in the distance. It didn't take her long to realize she was chasing something. "Odd!" She ran over to try to reach him, only to be tossed back by a Krab's leg. "No!" She threw a fan at the Krab, only for it to bounce off, missing its target.

The Krab charged up its laser and shot at Yumi. She was hit dead on. She flew back across the ground. She wasn't devirtualized yet, but the shot had taken a way a chunk of her life points. She got up and moved out of the way as the Krab was preparing to shoot another laser at her.

The others weren't having much luck breaking through. Ulrich tried his Triplicate to get past the horde, only for Hornets and Blocks managing to neutralize the attack, destroying his clones before he could get very far. Aelita managed to clear some of the Krankrelats, the most numerous monsters in the group, but it wasn't enough to allow her or anyone to squeeze through.

They didn't know how long they would last against the monsters. If they fought hard enough and smart enough, they could clear them out. But would it be in time? They were worried for Odd. The monster was pushing him further and further away from them. The monster would likely try to toss him into the Digital Sea. And if she did that now, they wouldn't be able to save Odd. Jeremie could devirtualize him, but only if he reacted quickly enough.

Ulrich jumped in the air, giving a yell as he brought his sword down on a Krab. It sliced through it and destroyed it instantly. He turned around to face a Tarantula aiming its weapons at him. The front of them glowed and shot out small balls of energy in rapid movement. Ulrich dodged most of them, but got hit by one.

He was tossed back and hit Yumi, causing them both to fall to the ground. They laid there for a few seconds before regaining their senses and getting back to their feet. They looked at each other briefly before putting their backs to each other. A second later, Aelita joined them. The three, backs against each other, looked around as the remaining monsters closed in on them.

Ulrich raised his swords. "This isn't working. We need a way to get through!"

"There's too many of them!" Yumi held her fan to her face. She wanted to through it, but she couldn't tell which monster to toss it at. "At this rate, we'll never get to Odd in time!"

Aelita looked beyond the monsters. She could no longer see even Therizino clearly. She thought she saw a red and black shape, but it was so small she wasn't sure. She looked over at the Way Tower, partially obscured by the monsters. She narrowed her eyes.

"We have to get to that Way Tower." She said.

Yumi looked at her. "But what about Odd?"

"We won't be able to reach him in time." Aelita said. She formed a fist in determination. "The Way Tower is much closer. We'll have a better chance helping Odd if we reach it." She looked over at Ulrich. "Do you think you can land me a hand?"

"As you wish, Princess." Ulrich said, smiling. He picked up Aelita. He positioned himself to where the tower was. "Super Sprint!"

Odd ran across the Mountain Sector, Therizino hot on his trail. He was down on all fours, pounding the ground with his hands and feet, tail flying back behind him. Without a vehicle, this was the quickest way for him to gain some distance from Therizino. He would feel better if he had his vehicle, but it was back where the monsters were, and he doubted he could get past Therizino to get to it.

He looked ahead and saw there was a large structure he could turn into. He looked behind and saw that Therizino wasn't in sight. He narrowed his eyes at the tall mountainous structure. Without hesitating, when he got close enough, he jumped over, hiding himself behind the rocky structure. He looked up. He could climb it, but its top ended in a point. He wouldn't be much safer up there. Instead, he opted to use the rocky structure as a buffer. It would be harder for Therizino to get him if he was blocked by this thing.

He pressed his back against the tall mountain. He panted, catching his breath, despite being on Lyoko. He heard Therizino's footsteps coming in. He didn't have to look from his hiding spot to know she was advancing towards the structure he was behind. He hoped that she would just walk by.

Therizino continued running. Odd could hear her footsteps going past his spot. He wanted to sigh in relief, but thought better of it. He held his breath as the footsteps continued to run past the structure. He almost wiped his brow when he heard the footsteps stop. He froze. What was she doing?

He wanted desperately to peak around the corner and see where she was. But doing so would expose where he was. He remained still, pushing his back further into the rocky surface. He waited, hoping that she would continue on her way. Then he heard a couple foot steps heading back. He flinched as he heard the claws of the monster scraping the ground.

The foot falls kept getting closer. Not a run, but a walk. A slow, deliberate walk. He could see a shadow forming on the ground next to him. If his claws were extendable, they would be twice the length as they are now, gripping into the surface of the wall. He could hear a low hiss escape the monster's mouth.

"Here kitty kitty kitty..." Therizino said mockingly.

Odd froze, his eyes warily watching out for Therizino. He could see the shadow of her head moving around the corner. He inched his way in the opposite direction.

As he disappeared around the corner, Therizino's head popped around the opposite side, looking at where he was just standing. A smile stretched across her face. Her lips pulled back in a grin. "Come out, come out, wherever you are..." She sneered, looking around.

Odd almost ran off, but stopped himself. In front of him where the monster's tails. Inches away from his face, if he got any closer... He backed off slowly. He failed to notice Therizino's head emerging from behind the rock and staring at him. He continued to back away until he felt himself hit against something firm and rigid. He tensed up at the sound of a growl.

"I can smell your code, you know..."

Whirling around, he almost didn't jump back in time as Therizino clamped her jaws an inch away from his face. He let out a yell as Therizino swiped her sickle claws at him. He shot a Laser Arrow at her, hitting her in the side of her head. That distracted her enough for him to make a run for it.

Therizino shook her head and hissed in his direction. Electricity swirled around her paw. She smirked as Odd stopped, holding his head. She started walking towards him. She stopped and gasped when Odd kept running, fighting against the pain. She hissed. She charged towards him. She was not going to let him get away.

Odd fought against the pain. He was feeling dizzy. Pain swelled in his head and chest. He wanted to fall on the ground and curl up. He felt himself almost screaming that in his head. But he couldn't stop, not now. He kept running, trying to keep away from Therizino. He hoped that the others would be able to reach him in time.

But what if they don't?

Ulrich managed to get Aelita over the monsters. He watched as she ran towards the Way Tower. He smiled at first, but saw that some of the monsters were trying to block her path. He wanted to help, but he couldn't get any further as two Tarantulas stood in his way. He readied his swords, gritting his teeth.

"I hope Aelita can get to the tower in time." He said as he started fighting the Tarantulas.

Swinging a fan at a group of Krankrelats, destroying them in seconds, Yumi nodded her head. "I'm sure she will."

Yumi looked in the direction Odd ran. She couldn't shake this feeling she had to help him. There were still too many monsters here. She didn't want to leave Ulrich all alone here. He would get defeated for sure.

She didn't have long to dwell on that. She heard a scream behind her. She called out Ulrich's name as she turned around. She was just in time to see his body disintegrate. Now she was left alone with XANA's monsters. She looked over and saw Aelita was still fighting some off. She was getting closer to the tower.

Yumi ran and jumped as high as she could. Sending out her fan, it cut through the vulnerable spots on a couple monsters that Aelita was facing. They exploded and gave Aelita an opening. Shouting a thanks, Aelita managed to get into the tower.

Yumi sighed with relief before dodging an attack from a Krab. She narrowed her eyes and took a fighting stance. She jumped up and threw her fan at the Krab, managing to destroy it just before it could shoot at her.

"Yu...mi...get to...Odd...trouble..." Jeremie's voice cut in.

"Don't worry, Jeremie!" Yumi said as she started running in the direction Therizino went, prepared to fight off the monsters in her way. "I was just getting to that!" Despite sounding confident, Yumi had one worrying though run through her mind.

Would she get there in time?


	28. Cliff Side Confessions

Present

Odd struggled to free himself as Therizino continued to drag him towards the edge. He gritted his teeth tightly. He would try to shoot her, but both his paws were clung tightly to the ground, the claws stuck deep into the rock. He could see scratch marks as he was continuously dragged across the surface. He tried to pull himself forward. Therizino only yanked him back, making him nearly lose his grip on the ground.

As he heard Therizino's feet go over the edge, the claws scraping the ground, he knew what was going to happen. She was going to drop down into the Digital Sea herself, taking him with her. And with her weight, he wouldn't be able to hang on the ledge for very long.

His struggles increased. He could already feel Therizino's body start to weigh down on him. It was becoming painful for him to keep his claws in the ground. He couldn't remove him. The traction slowed down the progress, even just by a little bit. He looked behind him, glaring at Therizino out of the corner of his eye.

Soon, Therizino's body dangled over the edge, hanging onto Odd's tail with her teeth. She bit as hard as she could, causing Odd to stifle a yelp. Odd could feel his body shaking from exhaustion. The pain was still there, making it harder for him to hang on. He fought against it, clinging to the edge of the cliff. He felt himself being dragged closer and closer to the edge. He tried to dig his claws in the surface further, but they couldn't get any deeper.

He stifled a scream as he felt Therizino's paws grab onto him. The massive claws dug into his body, putting more weight on him. She pulled backwards, trying to make him dislodge. Odd was so close to the edge now. His claws slipped down further, and soon he was hanging by his fingers.

He was amazed he hung on this long. He mustered up as much strength as he could and tried to climb back up. He reached out with his paws, trying to grab land further up. He did this several times, but he only slipped back further. He kicked his feet at the edge. He tried to get a foot hold. He just continued to slip against the side, and he eventually gave up, his feet danging freely over the edge.

He gritted his teeth and widened his eyes. He wasn't going to last much longer here. He held on as tightly as he could. He could still feel himself inching closer to the edge. He knew Therizino likely won't die falling in, especially if XANA still wanted to use her. He would die if he fell in.

 _'Everything went according to plan.'_ Therizino telepathically told him.

"What..do you...mean...?" Odd asked through clenched teeth.

 _'I was hoping your friends would come here. Everything I did, it lead up to this.'_ Therizino said proudly. _'I know Aelita is in the tower now. I am sure she is. She can try all she wants to. She won't be able to save you...'_ She yanked harder.

"Somebody! Help!" He cried out, not caring how helpless he sounded. He wanted to get out of here.

**

"Aelita...hurry...Odd...almost over...edge...Therizino!"

The ominous message instantly sent chills down Aelita's spine. She was already on the platform, looking through the information and trying to find the one about Therizino. She worked as fast as she could, zooming through everything.

Once in a while, the tower would shake. The monsters were concentrating their fire on it. They would destroy it in a matter of minutes if they kept it up. She could leave and fight them off, but this was more important. She balanced herself as well as she could and continued looking through the files.

She had managed to get past the password this time. That didn't mean she was out of the woods yet. Way Towers contained a lot more information than normal towers. It would take some time to find what she wanted. She could only hope that she'd find it in time.

Another blast knocked her to her feet. She almost fell over the edge of the platform. She managed to stop herself in time. She got back up to her feet and walked back to the floating console. She pushed more buttons on them, and then something caught her eye. Something had popped up. She peered closer at it and couldn't help but smile.

"Finally..."

There, before her eyes, was the entire data profile for Therizino. Her body plan outline, her moves, the way she functioned, everything was there. She read through the information. It was brief yet still descriptive somehow. Once this was deleted, Therizino would cease to exist.

Aelita typed in a few commands. She couldn't believe their ordeal was about to be over. All she had to do was press one more button and Therizino would be gone.

Upon pressing the button, nothing happened. A beep sound was heard. Her eyes widened. She pressed it again and again. Still nothing was happening. The profile was still there. She wondered how that was possible. Then she saw a lock symbol over Therizino's profile. She took a few steps back as she realized the truth. The profile was data protected. She couldn't delete it.

"No..." Aelita shook her head. "Jeremie..I can't delete the profile!"

"XANA...must have thought...ahead...We need...a new plan..." Jeremie's crackled voice said.

"Do you have any ideas, Jeremie?" Aelita asked. There was no response. "Jeremie? Jeremie?!" Again silence. Communication had been cut off again.

Aelita stared at the locked profile in front of her. There had to be something she missed. She moved towards the console and shifted through it rapidly. Something had to be here, something that would help. She had to hurry. Time was of the essence.

**

"Why...why are you certain you won't be destroyed?" Odd asked.

He was still hanging on for dear life. Adrenaline seemed to be flowing through his body, granting him the strength to continue holding on. The extra energy would wane soon. He hoped that it would be enough for help to get here in time.

Therizino below him continued to hold onto his body. Her claws dug in further. Not enough to devirtualize him. She didn't want to do that. The claws simply caused pain, digging into his digital form. If they were on Earth, blood would be dripping down her claws.

 _'I guess since you are about to die anyway, I can tell you.'_ Therizino smirked. _'My profile is protected. XANA ensured that Aelita won't be able to crack into it. And I am sure you are wondering why hitting my mark won't destroy me, aren't you?'_

"I'm dying to know." Odd said sarcastically.

Therizino chuckled. _'Nice to know you are still able to joke even when faced with imminent death, kid.'_ She paused for a moment to see if Odd would say anything in response. When he said nothing, she continued. _'XANA created a substance for me that I drink. It fills my electro spheres. The substance not only keeps my electricity powers from overwhelming me, but it provides me with extra protection. Hitting my mark won't be enough to destroy me. I will just heal right up.'_

Odd was stunned by this news. "What...?"

 _'Did you think XANA would never do something about the bullseyes on his monsters? He needs them on the monsters for him to send commands to them. But he is aware of their weakness. With me, he decided to do something about that. An experiment if you will.'_ Therizino explained. _'And since I am a success, soon the other monsters will have it as well.'_

"No." Odd didn't want to believe it. If XANA used this same stuff on the other monsters, how would they defeat them? "Why..why are you doing this? You're...part human.."

Therizino's eyes widened slightly. They narrowed into slits almost instantly. _'Only a small part of me. And that is all part of the past.'_

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you..." Odd said, feeling his arms getting weaker. "If I knew you'd become this...I would have.."

 _'It is too late for that, cat boy!'_ Therizino howled into his head. _'My plan is going to come into fruition! You are going to die! And your friends are next!'_

Odd felt himself start to lose his grip. His arms trembled violently. His strength already waned fast. He got closer to the edge. He was hanging just by the very tip of his fingers and claws. He frantically tried pulling himself up. He managed to get part way back up. But he started slipping back. He clung on hard.

Therizino's smile spread further than it ever did. Her eyes widened, a crazed, insane look in them. _'Die!'_

Odd's eyes widened and he let out a gasp as he suddenly lost his grip. He started falling over the edge...

...only for a hand to grab him before he fell too far. Odd looked up and saw Yumi there. She held onto Odd's right hand and pulled him back. Odd gripped the edge of the cliff with his left.

"Perfect timing!" Odd yelled to her, a big smile on his face.

Yumi smiled back and went to work pulling him back up. But she, too, started slipping towards the edge, Therizino's weight weighing on her too. Odd dug his claws deeper into the cliff. Yumi gripped his hand tighter and pulled back as hard she could.

"Don't...don't worry Odd..." Yumi said, her eyes shut tightly as she yanked him back. "I won't...let her take you.."

Therizino's eyes narrowed. _'You want to die with him? I will be happy to oblige!'_


	29. End Game

Jeremie fumble through a list of programs. He pressed buttons, keyed in commands. All he could get was a bunch of error messages. The system wasn't letting him through. He slammed his fist against the chair. Of all the times for him to be cut off of Lyoko, it had to be now. He looked at the screen. He could see what was going on, but his voice wasn't getting to them. Something was blocking him.

He searched through, frantically trying to find the cause of the problem. So far, everything was showing up as normal. The supercomputer was indicating there were no issues. He knew this was wrong, not to mention contradictory with how the supercomputer wasn't allowing his voice to get through to Lyoko.

They were running out of time. He looked up at the screen. Aelita was still in the tower. He had no idea if she was close to cracking the code or not. And Odd, he was still danging over the cliff, being pulled down by Therizino. He was relieved that Yumi had gotten to him, but he was still worried. Therizino could pull them both over.

He gritted his teeth. They should have planned this better. They should have thought about back up strategies. They should have not underestimated Therizino's capabilities. Now all he can do is stare at the screen helplessly as he watched the events on Lyoko unfold. He felt so useless.

He heard the door behind him open. He turned around to see Ulrich, looking a little tired, walking up to him. Ulrich joined Jeremie in watching what was happening on Lyoko.

"Gah! I can't believe I let myself get devirtualized!" Ulrich said as he watched the signatures indicating Odd and Yumi being dragged down by Therizino. "I should be there helping them..."

"You can't go back." Jeremie said sadly.

"Yeah I know." Ulrich admitted. "Did you fix the interference?"

Jeremie shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I don't know if it was Therizino or XANA, but I'm completely cut off. Nothing is letting me through. I can see but they cannot hear me. And I cannot hear them." He leaned forward and started typing again. "Maybe if I try to..."

Ulrich took a step closer. "We don't have time for that!"

"Ulrich, it will take time! If you let me work, I'll be done soon!" Jeremie said, even though he had doubts he could pull it off.

And Ulrich seemed to sense his doubt. "It will take too long!"

With that, Ulrich walked away. Jeremie frowned at him and turned back to the monitor. Seconds later, he heard footsteps heading back in his direction. He turned around. He opened his mouth to speak, but his eyes widened when he saw what Ulrich was carrying.

"U-Ulrich?! W-What are you d-doing with that?!" Jeremie gripped the computer chair tightly and pressed himself back, as if to get away.

Ulrich wielded a long metal bar. He had it held off to the side in a striking pose. He moved slowly towards Jeremie. "I am going to do things my way!"

"Are you insane?!" Jeremie cried, covering his head as if to shield himself. "Don't! Get away!"

Ulrich didn't listen. He rushed forwards. He let out a yell as he raised the iron bar over his head. When he got close enough, he struck down. Jeremie screamed and shut his eyes. The iron bar made impact with the top of the central monitor. There were a few sparks of electricity, but otherwise the monitor was in tact.

It took Jeremie a few seconds to recover from what happened. He placed his hand on his chest and sighed in relief that there wasn't more extensive damage. He shot a harsh glare at Ulrich.

"What were you thinking? You were lucky you didn't..." Jeremie growled softly. "Oh I can't believe you just did that! You could have...!"

He didn't have time to finish the sentence. There was a beep on the computer screen. He turned to look at it. His eyes widened as he saw a message flashing across the screen. He had access again to speak to Lyoko. He slowly turned his head to Ulrich, stunned.

Ulrich gave a small smile. "I guess my idea wasn't so stupid after all."

**

Yumi hung onto Odd tightly, gripping his hand with hers. She pulled back, step by step. Her feet kept slipping forward. Although she had extra endurance on Lyoko, it wasn't doing much to help her situation. She could hear Therizino's laughter in her mind as they continued to move towards the edge. Yumi wanted to attack Therizino, but if she let go of Odd, even just one hand, he could slip from her and fall to his death.

Odd tried to pull himself up with his left hand, trying to assist Yumi. He scraped the ledge with his feet. They couldn't get a grip. He tried kicking at Therizino's face. It was useless. He couldn't reach her. He could feel a splitting pain in his head. He had to fight the urge to grab his head, fought to ignore the pain. Therizino turned the dial up on the threshold of the attack, and by now Odd had a hard time concentrating on what was going on.

"Odd?" Jeremie's voice said.

Odd craned his head up. "Jeremie? You fixed the interference?"

"Yeah, with a little...unorthodox help." Jeremie said. "Listen, Odd, Aelita is in the tower. Can you hold on for a while longer?"

Odd yelped when Yumi slipped further towards the edge. "I don't know. It's not a piece of cake here. Therizino won't let me go! I don't know how long Yumi and I can hold on!"

Yumi grunted in exhaustion. "Please Jeremie. Isn't there something you can do?"

Odd's eyes lit up. While his plan as bait didn't go exactly as planned, after all he did not expect Therizino to push him this far away from the others nor did he expect all these monsters here, Therizino had slipped up somewhere. And now she was going to pay for it. An eerie grin spread across his face. Yumi and even Therizino were confused by this.

"Jeremie, I think I know how to get rid of Therizino without deleting her profile." Odd called out.

 _'What?!'_ Therizino hissed. _'You're mad! You can't possibly have...'_

Odd chuckled. "You might think you have the upper hand. You might think you are so clever. But you see, you aren't the only one who can get a step ahead in the game." Therizino's eyes widened quickly. Odd turned his attention towards the sky. "The spheres on her tail, Jeremie! Those are her true weak points!"

"Oh I see." Jeremie said, his voice filled with realization. "I will go inform Aelita. Thanks, Odd!"

Therizino couldn't believe what had transpired. She glared up at Odd. Her eyes glowed intensely. _'You...'_ She grabbed Odd's ankles with her paws. The sudden shift almost caused them to go over right then and there. _'This is the end of the line for you!'_

Before Odd could react, Therizino released her grip on his tail and clamped her jaws on his side. He cried out in pain as she sank her teeth into his body.

**

After getting word from Jeremie, Aelita immediately changed tactics. She stopped trying to hack the entire profile and instead focused on just one spot in particular. She shuffled through the windows and entered different commands. Jeremie sent her a program to help, and help it did. With it, she managed to gain access to one small part of Therizino.

"Aelita, did you get through?" Jeremie asked.

She replied, "Yes, Jeremie. I have access, but it won't last long." Aelita zoomed in on one window in particular, seeing a strand of code on it. Her fingers hovered over a button. "Shall I?"

"Yes. Do it." Jeremie said.

Aelita pressed the button. The portion of code glowed in front of her. Then it suddenly broke apart. A bunch of error screens filled the console now. The whole of Therizino's profile was covered with red exclaimation points. This time instead of bringing fear, it brought a smile to Aelita's face.

"It is done, Jeremie." She said softly.

**

The spheres on Therizino's tail glowed. Lines started cracking through them, purple light shining out of them. The lines spread throughout all three of the spheres before there was a sudden crack. Therizino's eyes shot open. In seconds, the spheres shattered, pieces flying everywhere.

Black goo poured out of the tips of her tails. The tails waggled around like a wild animal writhing in agony. Now no longer contained, the purple electricity shot through her body. Therizino struggled in pain, her eyes shut tightly. The electricity stretched up to Odd and Yumi, who screamed as well. Electricity from Odd's eye sparked as well, sending wide archs in rapid succession all over the place.

The electricity dances over them all, engulfing them in purple light. Odd's right eye had a lot of electrical concentration on it. He gritted his teeth and tried not to scream. Suddenly, something inside his right eye snapped and his eyes widened bigger than Yumi had ever seen them. A black goo dripped from Odd's right eye.

Therizino couldn't take it anymore. She let go of Odd and let out an agonizing roar. She lost her grip on the boy. She started falling down. In seconds, the electricity stopped around Odd and Yumi. But on Therizino it continued, causing her screams to fill the Lyoko air, fading slowly as she fell towards the Digital Sea below.

Therizino's release caused Yumi to fall back, pulling Odd upwards. He landed on top of her. The pair, though shaken up by the electricity, managed to get back to their feet. They peered over the edge and watched the red monster fall down and finally hit the Digital Sea.

There was no pillar of light indicating deletion. Instead, Therizino's head popped out of the liquid-like data. Electricity covered her body. Her eyes were wide and darkened, the light sucked out of them. Black goo formed around her. She let out one final agonizing roar as she sank below the Digital Sea. As she went below, a few purple flashes were seen before it became quiet.

Yumi and Odd stared in shock. They took in deep breaths, comprehending what had happened. They looked at each other and, after a minute, smiled. They had won.

**

"She was all wham! And I was all is that all you got? And I gave her a piece of my mind!" Odd said excitedly.

Jeremie watched and rubbed his head in annoyance. Odd was telling the tale of what happened, his style. That was just like Odd, to face death-defying danger only to come out all excited when he completely conquers that threat, even if he had help.

But he and the others didn't mind too much. They were glad that Odd was back to his usual self again. They'd rather have the bragger than the sick, nearly killed person that used to be before them.

Odd raised his arm. "And then I...!"

Ulrich put a hand on his shoulder. "Odd, we should head back to the school. You can tell me all about your adventures when we're back in our dorm, okay?"

Odd signed in disappointment. "Aww but I was getting to the best part!"

"Now Odd, Ulrich is right. It is getting late. We all could use some rest after what happened." Aelita said with a smile on her face. "You can save your heroic stories for later."

Odd couldn't really argue with that. He was feeling a little tired himself. He stretched his arms behind his back. "Well okay, Aelita, I guess you are right.

The group started walking back to the school. Through the sewers they went until they reached the forest.

Odd said, "I bet Kiwi misses me. He always knows when I'll be back and if I'm not there when he expects me, he goes nuts."

"He's not that smart, Odd." Ulrich commented. "He doesn't know his head from his tail."

"You take that back!" Odd shouted as the others started laughing.


	30. Epilogue

Odd sat down cross legged with his friends. He was dressed in his gym attire. He rested his head on his hands as he listened to Jim go on and on to the students about the importance of exercise despite him not being in the best shape himself. Odd was hardly listening to Jim anyway. His mind floated back to what happened not that long ago.

It had been two weeks since they defeated Therizino. All of his symptoms had disappeared. The irritability, the random attacks, the chest pains, headaches, everything, as if nothing had happened. Despite all that happened to him, it made him feel good, almost enthusiastic beyond sanity, and he become even more eager to back to Lyoko.

This wasn't to say he didn't understand the risks. Truth be told, he was terrified at what Therizino was capable of doing. And he still felt guilty that he was the one responsible for what happened to her in her past life, in a sense. He knew there was nothing he could really do about it now, though. She's gone. Jeremie checked. He found no trace of her in Lyoko. That brought little comfort to Odd. She might be hiding in the Digital Sea, ready to strike again.

He was glad that the others were able to help him, even more glad that he accepted their help more willingly than he would have. He had been a stubborn kid all his life, wanting to do things for himself. He didn't want to appear weak and would usually not accept help unless he really needed it. And in this situation, he managed to get over that, for the most part, and, while he'd never admit it, he never would have made it out alive if it weren't for his friends.

He didn't leave the battle totally unscathed though. Although whatever was in his eye was gone, and that he no longer had a purple iris, the electricity had damaged something in his eye. He forgot what Jeremie called it, but without it, his right eye's iris became blue. It was a permanent reminder of what had happened to him.

Odd didn't really mind the new look. Some people in school thought he looked good with different colored eyes. He agreed. He had mentioned to the others that heterochromic eyes really suited his personality. He was glad for the chance. Even if his right eye hadn't changed blue, he may have tried to beg to get colored contacts, even though he didn't need them, just to get the different colored eyes.

Things had gone pretty much back to normal for them all, well mostly normal anyway. XANA was back to his usual attacks. There were no more signs of unusual monsters. Just the same routine as before, as if he considered Therizino a failure and was just resorting to what he did before. Jeremie recommended they still be on their guard in case he pulled something from his sleeve.

"Della Robia!" Jim's voice sounded out, breaking Odd from his thoughts. "Since you have time daydream, I am sure you have time to demonstrate everyone your..."

Odd held up his hand. "Don't worry, Jim, I can pull this off."

Jim watched as Odd walked up towards the track. Odd took a place next to Ulrich, who was also chosen by Jim for this. They got themselves in the starter position. Jim walked up behind them, preparing to give the say.

"Are you ready for this, Odd?" Ulrich said, grinning at his room mate and best friend.

"Never been more ready!" Odd said as he smirked at Ulrich. "Just don't complain to me when I win and make you eat my dust!"

Ulrich gritted his teeth playfully. "We'll see about that, Odd!"

"Yes we will." Odd grinned, narrowing his eyes.

"Go!" Jim shouted.

The two boys ran out. They were neck and neck as they ran across the track. Odd enjoyed the breeze through his hair as he ran. For the first time, he didn't really care about winning. All he wanted to do was enjoy the sprint, and he knew Ulrich felt the same way. They had been through a lot recently and it was time to relax.

It was time to enjoy life.


End file.
